Shadowchasers: City of Angels
by MichaelDJ54
Summary: A new threat rides into the Los Angeles area in America, and it's up to a mis-match of Shadowchasers to stop them, no matter what the costs. Inspired by Cyber Commanders "Shadowchasers" fic. Please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh 5D's in any way, shape or form, nor do I intend to make money from this. In addition, I do not own Shadow chasers, that right along belongs to Cyber Commander for starting such an awesome storyline.

Also, people, don't worry, I've been known to work on numerous fics at once, so I'll be alternating between this and my current fic "Dawn of the Future" and I just wanted to do this because it was fun!

But first, some rules.

As a result of this being in the 5D's world, Riding Duels are quite common in this day and age, and as such, a special card known as "Speed World' it's stats are as follows.

"Each player can have a copy of this card on the field simultaneously. This card is activated at the start of the duel. If you play a Spell card that does not have the words "Speed Spell" in its name, take 2,000 Points of damage. During each player's Standby Phase, place once Speed Counter on this card. (Max: 12 for each player) Reduce you number of Speed Counters for each increment of 1,000 Life Points you lose from a single source.

Speed Spells are a necessity in a Riding Duel, and we'll get to that later on. For now, here's my own entry to the ever popular Shadowchasers fandom! Let's rev it up!

Let's…just ignore the fact I said that…

…

It was a hot, sunny day in the city of angels, Los Angeles, as the sun beat down on the otherwise beautiful California city. The people walked about on their merry way, going to their respective jobs, ranging from the business men to the lesser known positions in the world.

And the single person with the lesser known position in the entire city was currently blasting through the street on his black Duel Runner, blasting through the streets with such ease, he may have been doing it for years and years, and for all we knew, he had been.

The rider in question was a young youth named Damian Ogitaka. His hair so long it whipped around from behind his head, his eyes narrowing dangerously as he zipped across a corner and down the street.

You see, dear readers, Damian was a part of a group, known only as the Shadowchasers, a group of Duelists who were known as Awares. Awares were people who could see creatures known as the Shadows, mythical creatures who could not be seen by anyone other than other Shadows and the Awares, as stated before.

But before we get too deep into this, let's go back to Damien, who was, currently, on a mission…

…

The battle field was something out of movie. Several LAPD were housed in front of it, their weapons of choice pointed up to the second story window where a shadow lurked back and forth. "We know you're in there!" Shouted the Chief of Police through a bull horn, currently hiding himself behind a Police Car. "We have the building surrounded! Come out with your hands up and we won't need to use force!"

The red haired, lanky man chuckled a bit, as he grabbed a green bottle, which had a rag sticking out of the mouth. Grinning and revealing his bright, yellow teeth, he grabbed a nearby lighter, and lit the rag. "You'll never take me alive, copper!" he cackled and chuckled the flaming bottle out of the window.

"Incoming!" Exclaimed a voice as two Policemen dove out of the way as the bottle struck the car, lighting it ablaze with orange and red fire. It crackled and sizzled.

The man frowned and pouted. "Not the desired effect…" he mumbled, scowling and crossing his arms. Peeking out the window, his eyes scanned the entire area, and his eyes found themselves settling on a bright, yellow bus, which had been caught in the crossfire and stopped by the police. "Ah…I'm sure THAT'LL make a good boom…"

He reached over and grabbed another Molotov, ready to throw it and hopefully gain a desired effect of a nice, big explosion.

"You touch that bottle, and I'll make sure you pay," snarled a voice from behind the man.

Turning around, he laid his eyes upon the black clad Shadowchaser, Damian. Wearing his sunglasses, and tugging his black trench coat closer to his body, his pale skin truly adding to the effect of the darkness. He slipped a toothpick into his mouth, and frowned at the man.

The man, not in the least surprised, smirked and grabbed at the bottle anyway, tossing it back and forth between his hands, chuckling as he did so. "Why don't you get out of here, Shadowchaser?" Asked the man casually as he grasped at his lighter. "This isn't your fight; rather, this is a fight between me, and the idiotic police that THINKS they can take out something as dangerous as me."

"Buddy, this became my fight when you started lighting all those fires." Damian frowned again, moving the said toothpick from one side of his mouth to the other. "I can't even BEGIN to consider how many rules of the treaty you broke doing that. People could have DIED."

The man sneered and tossed the bottle into the air. "You can take your treaty and SHOVE it, Shadowchaser. "I'm done following the rules: Humans need to feel the burn I CONSTANTLY feel, every second of my life."

Through anyone else's' eyes, they would have seen the man as something that had just gotten out of jail, malnourished and far too skinny. However, through the eyes of the Aware, he was something far more frightening. His skin was all but melted off, revealing a completely, burning skeleton, covered in a pair of tattered, blackened pants that didn't seem possible of burning off, and a shirt that seemed so burnt, they would turn to ash the second anything touched it. This was a Fire Wraith.

The Fire Wraith laughed and grabbed a nearby box, and produced a cigar from it. He lifted his thumb and lit the cigar, popping it into his mouth. He inhaled, and smoke leaked from his empty eye sockets and nose hole.

"I don't care," Damian said, "What your beef with the humans is, but you broke the treaty, and under the law of the Shadowchasers, I'm bringing you under arrest."

"Over my dead, body." The Fire Wraith snarled, baring his yellow, rotting teeth as he lifted up a hand in anger. "Take a look over at the side, if you would be a dear…"

Damien didn't move, but rather, his eyes drifted to the side, and they opened in surprise. There was a good little stockpile of gasoline canisters. There had to be at the very least six of them.

He turned his head back to the wraith, and saw that a fireball now drifting lazily in his hand, about the size of the baseball. He tossed it into the air and caught it. "Here's how it's gonna work, darkness," he said conversationally. "I'm not gonna go in without a fight, if you even TRY to touch me, I can, and will, light those bad boys up. There's enough of those and enough gas in each of them to rip a good little chunk out of this building, and maybe start up a few nasty fires to the adjoining buildings on either side, and maybe on the other side of the street."

Damian growled and clenched a fist. He knew that he would do it too, Fire Wraiths don't need to worry about something like death, and they were dead to begin with, so a little explosion was going to matter to him.

"So, we're left with a good little standoff," said the Wraith, pitching the ball to himself continuously. "Do you feel lucky, wanna be the hero, or do you wanna risk getting blown into a crisp little cinder?"

Damian said nothing, and looked around. Well, if he had a shot, he would have to go for it. Shadowchasers didn't pick up on the game just for fun…

"You play Duel monsters?" He asked.

The Fiery Ghost smirked and caught the ball. "I'm listening…"

"A duel," Damian said, grabbing behind him and pulling out his Duel Disk he had snatched from his D-Wheel. "If I win, you go in with me, all nice and quietly, and we don't make a scene. YOU win, however, you get to get off scot free, until another Shadowchaser decides he's had enough fires for his liking."

The Spirit tilted his head in piqued interest, and stroked at his chin. At this point, his cigar was at its end, everything else ash. "Hm, a tempting offer," he said honestly, "I could have some fun and draw out your suffering, or not risking losing and just blow you into chunks right now!" he stared off into space again, and stroked at his chin. "Hm…I find it more…exciting when my victims are screaming from their agonizing burn marks…so how about we take this top side?

He threw the fireball through the ceiling and to the roof, raining bits and pieces of debris around the tune. He then leapt through the ceiling, while Damian quickly followed, but merely jumped from the table and through the whole.

"And by the way, buddy," Said the Fire Wraith as he motioned with his hand, and a flaming appendage in the shape of a Duel Disk grew from his forearm, "Just for formalities, how about you call me Cynder, I like to think it fits."

"Okay, _Cynder,_" Damian seethed. "Just call me Damian, nothing more, nothing less."

"Nothing more, nothing less?" Cynder grinned as he drew a starting hand of five. "What kind of name is that?"

"Just shut up and duel!" Damian roared, throwing his hand, and his disk forward, and locked it into place. Holographic images flew from his Duel Disk, and the duel was then underway.

**(Damian: 8,000) - - - - - - - (Cynder: 8,000)**

"And just to prove how much of a gentleman I am, I think I'll go first, so you can use that pretty little head of yours, to plan," he drew his card, looked at it and slid it into his disk, stating, "I summon Abaki in Attack Mode!"

A portal of fire appeared in front of Cynder, and a large, red demon with bulging red muscles appeared before him, with large, revealed teeth, and a spiky club in his right hand, wearing nothing but a loincloth. (1,700/1,500)

"Then, just for some added protection, I'll be putting these two cards down, and end my turn," Behind Abaki appeared two facedown cards.

Damian snatched the top card of his deck off and added it to his hand. It didn't stay long, as he discarded it to the graveyard, stating, "I use my monsters effect and discard a Level Five Dark Monster, like Mefist, the Infernal General, and Special Summon Dark Grepher!"

With ghoulish laughter, a dark warrior very similar to the very own, Warrior Dai Grepher, but with many differences: His hair was black, his skin was ashen grey, and his eyes had a very, demonic glow to them. (1,700/1,600)

"Humph," Cynder frowned. "That's really creative kid, REALLY creative. A deck full of the dark forms of the best monsters. Tell me, kid, how exactly does it feel to be just a really, creative copy cat?"

Damian narrowed his eyes dangerously, and took another card from his hand. "I'm going to use Dark Grepher's effect, which lets me discard one Dark Monster from my hand and discard a Dark Monster from my deck."

He discarded a Mystic Tomato, and a card slipped out of his deck. He discarded both of the cards, and grabbed another card in his hand, discarding it to the graveyard.

"And I'll use that to my advantage by discarding this card by removing two other Dark Monsters in my grave from play."

He slipped the final card into the graveyard after pocketing the two cards he had just sent to the graveyard.

"Let me guess, Dark Nephthys?" Cynder asked after a moment, and crossed his arms.

Ignoring the comment, Damian slid another card into his disk. "I set one more card facedown, and just end my turn." He said.

Cynder snatched another card off of his deck and inspected it. He added it to his hand and said, "I summon Blazing Inpachi in Attack Mode."

A large man-like creature made of burning logs appeared in front of him, staring lifelessly at his opponent. (1,850/0)

"Now Abaki, attack Dark Grepher with Spiked Bat Clobberer!"

Abaki rushed forward and bashed Grepher in the head, but Grepher stabbed the fiend in the stomach. Both exploded into pixels.

A red aura surrounded both of the duelists, and Damian grimaced.

**(Damian: 7,500) - - - - - - - (Cynder: 7,500)**

"Now Blazing Inpachi, attack that punk directly!"

As Blazing Inpachi neared his target, Damian threw his hands forward, shouting, "I play my facedown, Fires of Doomsday, giving me two Tokens to block your blow."

Two small creatures, made of black fire, appeared. (0/0 X 2)

Blazing Inpachi threw a fist, and one of them exploded into pixels.

"Hm, so what, you managed to survive just a bit longer," Cynder said with a smirk, throwing his cigar off to the side, "I end my turn."

Damian drew his hand, and a large, black, bonfire appeared behind him. A massive creature, that looked like Sacred Phoenix of Nephtys, but with pitch black metallic skin and grey and black flames on its head, landed in front of him, letting out a loud squawk. (2,400/1,600)

"And since I summoned her with her effect, one of your traps is about to burn to a crisp!"

The Phoenix opened its mouth and shot a fireball at one of Cynder's facedowns. It exploded, and much to Damian's shock, he let out a loud cry of pain as a small volcano erupted around him, and he shook. "Ow…"

"THAT, my friend, was the trap known as Dormant Volcano, which, when destroyed, deals you 300 Points of damage, and a second effect which we'll get to when the time comes," Cynder snickered.

"Nephtys, attack his Blazing Inpachi, now!"

The Phoenix breathed a cone of fire at the Woodman, who exploded into pixels after a moment of the onslaught.

**(Damian: 7,200) - - - - - - - (Cynder: 6,850)**

"I'll end my turn then," Damian said.

"Then I'll draw," Cynder said and drew another card. "And as a result of my Dormant Volcano, we can each take a Pyro monster from our deck to our hand. For me, that's nearly my whole deck, for YOU, on the other hand, your sources are limited." He said, taking the said card.

"And I'll do this: I'll remove both Blazing Inpachi and Abaki from my graveyard, in order to summon two Infernos."

He pocketed two cards, and two large bonfires with baby blue eyes appeared in front of him. (1,100/1,900)

"And for the Coup De Grace, I'll sacrifice both of them in order to summon the Infernal Flame Emperor!" Cynder cackled.

Both of the Infernos erupted together and formed into a giant fiendish looking creature, standing atop four legs with the looks of a fiery lion, made entirely out of fire. (2,700/1,600)

"And I'm sure we all know of HIS effect…" he grinned deviously at his opponent, as he pocketed one of the Infernos, "By removing a Fire type from my graveyard, your final facedown is cooked!"

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Damian shouted, his facedown flipping up, "I play Dark Spirit Art – Greed! By sacrificing my Phoenix, I can draw two cards!"

The Phoenix vanished.

"However, you can fix that if you wanna show me a spell card of course…"

Cynder snarled. He didn't have a Spell card in his hand, just two monsters! So he watched Damian draw two cards, and pointed to the final Fires of Doomsday Token. The Infernal Flame Emperor breathed down at him, and the token exploded. "I'll end my turn. Of course, what hope do you have of destroying him? None, that's what,! I'll end my turn!"

"We'll see about that!" Damian said as he drew another card and looked at it. "And I'll start by playing Allure of Darkness, which lets me draw two cards from my deck, so long as I remove a Dark Monster in my hand from play."

He drew two cards and quickly pocketed another card.

"Now I'll play Burial from the Different Dimension to return my three monsters back to my graveyard, for future use!"

"Oh, like having three more Copycats in your graveyard is gonna make you anymore dangerous? Please, whatever you summon, I'm just gonna send it there to join then!"

"Now likely," Damian said with a smirk, "Because even you can't beat THIS monsters defense points!" he slammed a card on the disk…

And a black lightning bolt struck the ground between the two. In the wake of the crash, a massive creature began to rise. It had black, metallic skin and webbed red wings behind it. A ball of black lightning dances between its hands as it crashed into defense mode. (2,300/3,000)

"Dark Creator, hm?" Cynder asked, not in the least impressed. "Trust me, I've seen so much worse…"

"Well then I'm sure you know of his effect," He said. "By removing a monster in my graveyard from play, I can Special Summon any Dark Monster I want, so what better one than Dark Horus?"

An eruption of Darkness later, the large, dark, doppelganger to Horus appeared in front of him, with tainted, black, metallic skin. (3,000/1,800)

"Say what?!" Cynder screamed.

"Horus! Attack his Infernal Flame Emperor with Black Giga Flames!" Damian shouted.

Horus inhaled deeply, and let out a large fireball, one that was bigger than Infernal Flame Emperor itself, and it struck him. The great beast howled in agony, and exploded into pixels.

**(Damian: 7,200) - - - - - - (Cynder: 6,550)**

Cynder twitched a bit, growling. "You're making me angry buddy…"

Damian sneered. "I'm so scared." He chuckled. "I end my turn!"

Cynder drew his card swiftly and grinned at it. "That's more like it! I play the Spell card, Star Blast. Now by paying Increments of 500 Life Points, one monster in my hand loses that many stars. So I'm going to pay 1,000 Life Points in order to decrease its Stars by two."

"Yeah, a small problem is the lack of a monster needed to summon it…" Damian countered. "By the way, really stupid thing you just did. Because you played a Spell card during your main phase, I get to bring back a Dark Monster with Horus' effect."

Dark Grepher appeared in front of Damian again. (1,700/1,600)

"Yeah, I know, which allows me to use my trap card, Flames of the Phoenix. Since a monster was summoned to your side of the field, I can summon one from my deck with less attack points, so I'll summon my 1,000 Attack Point Burning Skull Head!"

The monster could not have been named any better. It was very subtle. A skull on fire. (1,000/800)

"And now, I'll sacrifice him to summon one of the big guys of this deck, Skull Flames!"

The burning skull vanished, and in his place appeared a much more imposing form. It looked to be a giant skeleton, garbed in furs and sorcerer robes. A pair of fireballs dangled from his bony hands. (2,600/2,000)

"And all his attack points are heading right for that warrior of yours! Skull Flames, attack Dark Grepher!"

The Monster threw a fireball at the dark counterpart, and it blew into pieces.

"Still think I'm a wanna be, fire, cookie cutter trainer?" Cynder asked as the remains of the Dark Grepher fell around him. "Still think I'm like you?"

"Okay, fine, I'm bumping you up to a damn psychotic pyromaniac." Damian said, his eyes narrowing angrily. "And I still cleaned worse things out of the bathroom that smelled less than you! So you still don't scare me!"

"Then I'll just have to START scaring you then!" he shouted. "I se t one card facedown, and end my turn!"

His final card vanished into his field, right behind Skull Flames.

**(Damian: 6,300) - - - - - - - (Cynder: 5,550)**

Damian drew his card and looked at it, thinking intently. _I see his game. That facedown is likely Mirror Force, and he expects me to switch Dark Creator into Attack mode to try and score some easy points. What he doesn't know is, I'll just keep Horus in attack, attack it, fail, and bring him back during my Second main Phase!_

"Horus, attack Skull Flames!"

Horus let loose his torrent of Black Flames, but much to Damian's surprise the attack connected, and the sorcerer exploded into pixels.

"You didn't chain it to anything?" He asked, somewhat surprised.

"I have bigger plans for you, buddy." He smirked. "And it all requires having him in the graveyard."

Damian did NOT like the sound of that.

"I'll end my turn then…" he said slowly, as if something would strike him if he spoke any faster.

The Fire Wraith drew a card and cackled. "Well, well, well!" he grinned. "It looks like the heart of the cards is working for the bad guys after all! I just drew my main guy, and the one that's about to whale on you completely! To summon him, I need to remove one Fire Type Zombie Monster…"

The Skull Flames fell out of his disk.

"And I'll summon him to the field! Meet Bonefire!"

A flash of fire erupted in front of him, and a fiery skeleton, much like Cynder himself, crouched in defense mode. It grinned at Damian a look he didn't like.

Damian seemed to panic, but then he saw his score…

(500/500)

"THAT'S your main guy?" Damian asked with a grin. "Heh, you had me scared there for a second, but that thing isn't that much to worry about. Any monster in my deck can beat that thing."

"Then by all means," The Fire Wraith said, holding his hand out as if to beckon him. "Go right ahead."

"Gladly, I draw!" Damian drew a card, ignored looking at it, and ordered, "Dark Horus, attack that thing!"

Dark Horus inhaled deeply, and a fireball shot from it. Much to his shock, when the fire dissipated, the strange monster was still there. The only difference was in Cynder's attack, and the odd monsters attack s core. (1,000/500)

"How did he…" Damian asked, his eyebrow cocking from over his sunglasses.

"Bonefire is kinda like me, kid," Cynder grinned. "You can't exactly kill me, and we get stronger every time you try to. In short, I can keep him from being destroyed in battle by paying 500 Life Points, but as a result, he gains 500 Attack points!"

"And…is there a limit?" Damian asked.

"Yeah, yeah, calm down, there's a limit." Cynder rolled his eyes, or made a gesture that suggested he did. "The highest my monster can go is to 3,000, but trust me, when he hits that, you're in DEEP trouble."

Damian acknowledged that and slid a card into his disk. "I'll set one card facedown, and end my turn."

Cynder drew his card, and added it to his hand. "I switch my Bonefire to Attack mode, and he'll attack Horus!"

Bonefire stood up, and rushed to Horus, his hands, and rest of his body, really, ablaze.

"But you'll lose 2,000 Life Points! You're insane!" Damian shouted.

"Nope, I'll lose 500, because I'll chain my facedown Spirit Barrier to the attack!" Cynder shouted as his facedown flipped up, "So I won't lose any battle that would come from your battle, and I'll pay 500 Life Points to keep him around for a little while longer!"

Horus beat Bonefire away with a swipe of his wing, and he rose to 1,500 Attack Points.

"I think I'll call that a turn, what do you think, darky?"

Damian drew his card and thought. _If I summon monsters, then at the very least I can do is make him give up more and more life points, and even then, I can hold him off until I get my…main guy out. I just need to pray my next few draws are something I can use._

"I guess the most I can do is whittle away at your life points. I'll use Creators effect to remove my Dark Grepher from play, and summon Dark Nephtys."

The card slipped out of the graveyard, and the dark Phoenix appeared in a blaze. (2,400/1,600)

"Then I'll switch Dark Creator to attack mode, and have him attack Bonefire!"

Dark Creator held his hand out, and a bolt of black lightning shot out, striking Bonefire. It shrugged the attack off, and it rose to 2,000 Attack.

"Phoenix, you attack now!"

The Phoenix let loose a torrent of fire, and it struck the skeleton. It rose to 2,500.

"Now Horus, you take a whack at it!"

Horus shot a fireball at him, and it once again bounced off of it. It rose to 3,000 Attack Points.

_There, it's at its limit. If anything worse were coming, it's going to happen now…_

"I'll set one more card facedown and end my turn…"

A facedown appeared behind the triad of heavy duty monsters, and Cynder drew. His eyes drifted between the two cards he had in his hand, and he grinned.

"Heh, could not have planned this any better! I summon to the field the best monster in my deck, Skeleblaze!"

Bonefire erupted into a much bigger fire, and when the flares vanished, he was much bigger, about ten feet tall, much bulkier and his bones were much bigger. There was a mane around his head, and it shrieked, its bones creaking. (?/0)

"I can only summon this guy by offering Bonefire as a tribute, but his attack becomes what Bonefire had plus 500 points!

(3,500/0)

"So how about he takes out that annoying reviver of yours? Skeleblaze, attack Dark Creator with Bonefire Blast!"

The giant skeleton formed a fireball, and he threw it at Dark Creator. The massive form roared, took a step back and exploded into pixels. Damian cringed.

**(Damian: 5,100) - - - - - - - (Cynder: 2,650)**

"I'll set one more card facedown, and end my turn." He chuckled. "Your monsters aren't gonna take my guy down, even if you summon your Dark Armed Dragon!"

At that, Damian grinned as he snatched the top card of his deck into his hand. "Bit of news for you buddy, but I don't even HAVE a Dark Armed Dragon in this deck!"

"Say what?" Cynder asked. "A Dark Counterpart deck without Dark Armed Dragon?"

He didn't get much time to say anything else; Damian slammed a card into his disk, saying, "I play Veil of Darkness. What THAT does, we'll get to next turn. I'll take the defensive, and switch Dark Horus and Dark Nephtys to defense mode."

Both monsters let out a shriek and a roar, before landing on their talons and curled up in defense mode.

"That ends my turn."

Cynder drew his card and pointed at Dark Horus. "Skeleblaze, attack Dark Horus! Get that thing out of my sight!"

The Skeleblaze threw it's fireball at the dark counterpart, and it exploded into pixels.

Cynder's other facedown card flipped up.

"And I'll chain that to Lineage of Destruction. Since my monster destroyed yours, my Level Eight Skeleblaze can now attack twice, and then chain that to m Emergency Provisions, giving up my Lineage of Destruction and Spirit Barrier to gain 2,000 Life Points!

Skeleblaze formed two more fireballs in his hand and threw them both. One of them hit Nephtys, blowing her to pieces, but another one flew forward and struck Damian. He screamed as the burning flames danced around him, and he fell to one knee.

**(Damian: 1,600) - - - - - - (Cynder: 4,650)**

"I think this duel has a winner," he grinned, "I mean, there's nothing you can summon to beat something like my Skeleblaze, and even if you did, you can't destroy him in battle, he's got the same effect as my Bonefire, completely indestructible! You've lost, buddy, my little flame escapades are gonna go on!"

"We'll see about that. Draw!" Drawing his card, he looked at it and discarded it to the graveyard. "I'll activate my Veil of Darkness' effect. Since I just drew a Dark monster, I can discard it to the graveyard after revealing it, and drawing again."

"Like it would have helped you," he chuckled. "A Level Eight thing like that would be impossible to summon."

"No, but this might! I use the Spell card, Monster Reborn to bring back my Dark Grepher!"

The Dark Grepher appeared. (1,700/1,600)

"But he's not staying, because I'm offering Grepher to summon my Sphere of Chaos."

Grepher vanished, and in its place appeared a large, spherical machine, with black, metal plating and glowing yellow lines around its being. (1,600/0)

"Oh, I'm so scared! What's THAT thing going to do, bowl me over?" Snickered Cynder.

"A funny thing about my Sphere of Chaos is I can take a Level Three monster when I summon it to the field, and to make sure I get it on the field, I'll play Double Summon, which lets me summon my Dark Resonator!"

A fiendish creature appeared, with an odd outfit and a very large Cheshire grin on his face. In his hand he held a tuning fork, and the other a small hammer. (1,300/300)

Cynder stopped his laughing session, and blinked. "But…that's a tuner monster!"

"And their level together makes eight!" Damian exclaimed. "Sphere of Chaos, Dark Resonator, I tune you together!"

Dark Resonators grin widened somehow, and he hit the fork with his hammer, causing a low pitched hum sound. Both he and the Sphere of Chaos flew into the air, dissolving into a total of eight stars. The stars combined…

And a figure dropped in front of him. It wore very heroic looking armor, with a shield bearing the image of a dragon and a long sword in his other hand. His features were very pointed and feral looking, with tan skin, and very tan skin. (2,600/2,400)

"Which I'll use to summon Jalal the Dragonborn!"

"Like a little card made from your boss is gonna scare me? He's still too weak do anything useful!"

"That's where you're wrong! I'll use his effect and cut my life points in half, and then Select one normal Spell, Quick-Play Spell, Normal Trap or Counter Trap and remove it from play."

His Life Points dipped, and Monster Reborn slid out of the graveyard.

"By doing that, it gives Jalal a Rune Counter on his sword."

A rune began to glow on Jalal's sword.

"And by removing that counter, I can reuse the effect of the card I removed from play, in this case, Monster Reborn!"

Jalal lifted his blade into the air and the holy ankh of the Monster Reborn was flashed into the air.

"Go ahead, there's nothing you can summon that can beat Skeleblaze!" Cynder laughed.

"You know, I'm getting really sick of hearing you talk. I'm summoning my ace monster, the Darklord Zerato!"

The Ankh vanished and in its place appeared what at first glance was Archlord Zerato, but his robes and cloak were a blood red, his blade was jagged and black, and his eyes had an evil gleam to it. (2,800/2,300)

"And like his counterpart, I can discard a Dark monster…"

He discarded a Dark Shinobi.

"And all monsters on your side of the field are destroyed."

Cynder's eyes widened as Zerato lifted his blade into the air, and it shot a black beam that struck Skeleblaze. The massive beast let out a massive shrieked, and exploded into fiery bits, and Cynder looked up in shock.

"Jalal, Zerato, take him down!"

Cynder screamed as the twin swords slammed into him, and he flew backwards, hissing in pain. "Ah…" And then, slumped against the ground and passed out.

Damian sighed a bit and wiped his forehead of the sweat. "Well…that wasn't a TOTAL pain…"

…

Now, when most people went home, they were often at times greeted by an overly excited dog, or something of a loved one, a girlfriend say you. When you're Damian on the other hand, you get greeted by something….that isn't exactly a dog.

"Ah, welcome back Damian! How was your mission? A success I take it?"

See, Damian lived with someone who wasn't exactly human. One day, he had been in the Junkyard after a rather intense turbo duel, and upon waking up, found a strange creature, as though he had been created from the junk that surrounded Damian, a mis-match of various pieces of junk that surrounded him. Oddly enough, when asked what he was doing there, the robot couldn't recall. The most he could recall was waking up in the yard, and making a little home for himself.

Damian, feeling pity for the creature, took it upon himself to take him under his wing until he found more of his history.

"About as much a success as one could take it, Scraps." He said to his companion as he took his shoes off.

Scraps nodded. "I'm glad to hear that, Damian, maybe now you can rest? Mr. Ohana came by earlier, seeking your request."

"Did you take any notes?" Damian asked.

"He only told me to ask you to watch his duel on the Television, if you would be so kind." He said, "He said he needs as much companionship as he possibly can."

"Well, I'm gonna tune in then, and we can cheer from the sidelines." Damian smiled.

"Ah, but sir, cheering from the sidelines would imply that we would be there, on the actual side lines of the duel track, which wouldn't be that wise an idea." Scraps pointed out.

As one could tell, Scraps was still a bit confused on the ways humans talked and did things.

Damian found it humorous. "You have a lot to learn, Scraps." He laughed.

He turned on the TV…

…

Flames of the Phoenix  
Type: Trap  
Image: Sacred Phoenix of Nephtys erupting from the ashes, a new wildfire erupting behind her.  
Effect: Activate this card only when a monster is Special Summoned to your opponent's side of the field from the Graveyard. Special Summon one FIRE-monster from your deck with less ATK than the summoned monster. That monster is destroyed during the end phase.

Bonefire  
Type: Zombie/Fire/Effect  
Attack/Defense: 500/500  
Stars: 4  
Effect: This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card can only be Special Summoned by removing from play one FIRE-Type ZOMBIE monster from your graveyard from play. By paying 500 Life Points when this card attacks or is attacked, this card is not destroyed in battle. Increase this cards ATK by 500 each time it is attacked or attacks. (Max: 3000)

Skeleblaze  
Type: Zombie/Fire/Effect  
Attack/Defense: ?/0  
Stars: 8  
Effect: This card cannot be normal summoned or set. This card cannot be Special Summoned by offering one "Bonefire" on your side of the field. The original ATK of this card is equal to the ATK of the sacrificed card + 500. By paying 1,000 Life Points, this card is not destroyed in battle when this card is attacked or is attacked.

_Note: These two cards were created by my beta, Metal Overlord 2.0. Thanks mate! You rule!_

Jalal, the Dragonborn  
Type: Warrior/Light/Synchro/Effect  
Attack/Defense: 2,600/2,400  
Stars: 8  
Effect: _1 tuner + one or more Non-tuners_

This card cannot be Special Summoned except via Synchro Summon. Once per turn, during your Main Phase, you can pay half your Life Points to remove from play 1 Normal or Quickplay Spell or 1 Normal or Counter Trap from either Graveyard to place 1 Rune Counter on this card (max. 1). At any time during your or your opponent's turn, you may remove a Rune Counter on this card to duplicate the effect of the card that was removed from play as this card's effect.

_Note: This card was created by Cynder Commander for the Shadowchasers stories. All creative credit goes to him._

…

And the first chapter of my new story is up! Tune in next time for the Mr. Ohana that Scraps talked about. Not only is he a Shadowchaser, but an on the side Pro-duelist! Check out his duel in "Light of Intervention", coming soon! Hopefully!


	2. Light of Intervention

Disclaimer: So far, my Shadowchasers fic has become relatively good, coming from the man himself, and here's hoping we can keep it going from here! I don't own Yugioh 5D's, or Shadowchasers for that matter, just the guys in it! Enjoy all!

…

It was the same day that Damian apprehended Cynder did his best friend and mentor was having a challenge of his own, but unlike Damian himself, his was a bit more paced, and not in the least threatening…

…Well, unless you count the shot at your reputation threatening…

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Shouted the announcer of the whole tournament, with a pink tuxedo and a pair of dark sunglasses, shouted to the arena of cheering tournament goers. "Welcome to the annual Los Angeles Riding Tournament!"

The cheers erupted once again, this time with people standing up. An interesting feature as a result, several people were holding up white flags with bold letters spelling "Ohana" on them flapping in the wind.

"First, let's give a big round of applause from the challenger, the best duelists reigning from the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, let's give it up for Warren Jenkins!"

From the entrance of the building erupted a duelist, whose facial features were indistinguishable by the helmet he wore over his head, but the fact his D-Wheel looked gun metal grey with a large gear on the side showed something along the lines of great strength.

"And now, for the person you've all been waiting for!" Shouted the Emcee. "The samurai of light, the blind duelist himself, give it up for Jerian Ohana!"

The crowd screamed in excitement and the entrance erupted in white smoke. A D-Wheel erupted from it and landed on the ground, screeching it's wheel's wildly and making their own smoke. The duelist in question was wearing what appeared to be a tight fitting, white, samurai robe with a sash and everything. His skin was a deep tan, and his hair was blonde, almost white, that nearly touched his eyes. Which brought everyone's attention to it…

"Why does he have those wrap around bandages over his eyes?" asked a nearby watcher of the tournament, turning to his friend.

Said friend stared at him as if he had grown a second head. "Are you kidding? Not only is Jerian Ohana one of the coolest duelists in the world, but what REALLY makes him cool is the fact he's blind!

"There's a legend that goes around that he was in this cool sword battle with a rival samurai or something, and he got sliced and lost his sight! And he can see his card because of something regarding the connection he has with them!"

"That's a load of bull." Grunted an older man next to him. "I'm sure this whole blind thing is just a gimmick, I'm sure he can see just fine."

Jerian, who was indeed blind, and had enhanced his hearing, grinned to himself. Let the populace believe what they wanted to believe, the explanation was slightly correct, but until then…

He stroked a card in his deck gently.

Well, they didn't need to know until then. Superstitions were quite fun.

"Are you ready for the duel of the century!?" Shouted the Emcee.

The crowd erupted again.

"I can't hear you!" The Emcee screamed.

The crowd screamed louder.

…

"How can that poor man not hear anyone?" Asked Scraps, tilting his head to the side as he stood to watch Jerian's duel at Damian's abode, "Could the fact he's been screaming in that microphone have damaged his hearing?"

"Oh Scraps…" Damian chuckled.

…

"Then let's let the duel begin!"

The revving of the engines were hear from the two D-Wheels, and the screeching of the wheels were heard. Lights warped beneath the two that spread out over the entire duel field as Speed World activated for both duelists. Jerian and Warren both put their D-Wheel on auto pilot.

"Let's duel!!"

Both duelists screamed off into the track , leaving trails of smoke in their wake.

"I'll go first!" Jerian shouted in his somewhat gruff voice, snatching the top ca rd of his deck off and looked at it. "And what better card to start the duel than Gargoth, Lightsworn Warrior!"

Beside his duel disk appeared a tanned warrior appeared beside him. His clothing was a blinding white in the right light, with azure hair and a staff with a large axe blade on the end of it. (1,850/1,300)

"Then I'll set these two cards facedown, and end my turn!"

Two cards appeared behind Gargoth, and they vanished as the road blurred beneath them.

"Draw!" Warren shouted as he drew, and both Speed Counters rose to one each. "And I'll start by summoning a personal favorite of mine! Inaba White Rabbit!"

A ripple of light appeared in front of him, and with it appeared what appeared to be a fountain. Clutching it was a white rabbit. (700/500)

"And guess what? His special Ability allows me to attack you directly!"

Inaba's fountain lit up and rocketed into the air. It dived into Jerian, who cried out in shock and wavered on his bike, struggling to keep a grip on it.

Warren's grin widened, as two more facedown cards appeared in front of him, beside his bike. "I'll set these two cards facedown and end my turn. And since Inaba White Rabbit happens to be a Spirit monster, he's returned to my hand."

Inaba rippled, and a card appeared in his hand.

Jerian frowned as he drew his card, looking at the four cards in his hand, and the speed counters rose to two apiece. His eyes, though useless in any other situation, focused on one. A small smile crossed his lips.

"I summon a card that happens to be very close to me," he said as quietly as he could. "Jain, Lightsworn Paladin!"

Next to Gargoth appeared a woman with short, silver hair, wearing the same kind of armor as Gargoth, with a gleaming sword in her hand. (1,800/1,200)

"And the key card of our champion comes into play, a card as special to him as anything, but like our mysterious hero, we know nothing about it!" the emcee shouted.

"Jain, attack him directly!" Jerian shouted, throwing a hand forward.

Jain unsheathed her sword, and she rushed forward….

"Activate trap card!" Warren shouted. "Direct Border negates direct attacks over 1,000 or more!"

A glowing force field appeared around his d-wheel, and Jain bounced off of it.

"However, be lucky, that monsters with less than 1,000 attack can make attacks, and as a result, they can draw a card. So you better be getting ready to draw a few cards…"

"So, direct attack deck then, hm?" Jerian asked. "Boy, haven't dueled one of THOSE in a while…"

"And I think before you end your turn, I'll activate the second facedown card, Greed." He said, the second facedown flipping up to reveal a cackling man amidst a flurry of coins. "Now for every card we draw outside the draw phase, we take 500 points of damage."

"What a shocker folks, it seems as though there's another downside to Jerian's deck! Gargoth allows him to draw a card every time a Lightsworn Monster is discarded from his effect, so not only will this assist him, it will hurt him! Let's hope he doesn't discard anything!"

"I'll end my turn then!" Jerian shouted, "Which then allows me to discard two cards from my deck to my graveyard…"

He discarded two cards.

"And because that happened, Gargoth lets me discard another two cards…"

Two more cards went into the graveyard, and he winced.

"And since one of them was a Lightsworn monster, I can draw a card…"

He drew a card, and a red aura surrounded him, causing him to groan.

"Then I'll take MY turn," Warren said as he drew a card, both Speed Counters rising to three. "And I'll re-summon my Inaba White Rabbit." He said as the rabbit bounced to attention once again, its small, beady eyes glaring at Jerian. And he's going to attack you directly!"

The Inaba White Rabbit leapt into the air and it kicked Jerian in the back, making him cry out. His D-Wheel spun around, and he grit his teeth as he got it back into position. He grit his teeth as he struggled to keep himself in position.

"And as a result of my Direct Border, you can draw one card, and as a result of THAT one, you lose 500 Life Points."

Jerian drew his card, and he winced hard as the red aura surrounded him.

**(Jerian: 5,600) - - - - - - - (Warren: 8,000)**

"And our hero just can't seem to catch a break!" the emcee exclaimed. "It seems he's got himself into a lock down, he can't attack his opponent and even more, it seems that his entire deck seems to be swarming full of monsters designed to bypass his own leathal trap card combo! How will Jerian get out of this?!"

"I'll show you! Draw!"

He drew his card and looked at it.

"I sacrifice Gargoth for my Celestia, Lightsworn Angel!"

Gargoth vanished and in his place appeared a beautiful young woman with long, blue hair and wearing armor similar to Jain's. She had a pair of long, pearl white angel wings flapping behind her. (2,300/200)

"And since I sacrificed a Lightsworn monster for Celestia's summoning, I can now discard the top four cards of my deck to the grave…"

He did so, throwing them into his graveyard.

"And in exchange, destroy any two cards I want on the field, like your two trap cards!"

Celestia gesture, and the Direct Border and the Greed trap card exploded into pixels.

"And now to inflict some pain on you," The blind duelist said with a grin. "Celestia, attack him directly with Heavenly Lightsworn Attack!"

The Lightsworn, spinning her staff around her hand and rushed forward, her staff glowing with a white light…

"I activate the effect of my Kuriboh!" He held up the brown puffball from his hand. "And by discarding this, all damage to me for one attack is reduced to zero!"

Sliding the card into his disk, the wall of Kuriboh's appeared on his side of the field, blocking the blow and knocking Celestia back.

Jerian frowned, and looked to Jain, at least, that's what it LOOKED Like he did. "You try!"

Jain grabbed her sword and slashed at Warren, who cried out and skid off to the side, almost slamming into the wall. He swerved out of the way just in time though, as Warren's Speed Counters fell to three.

"Moving on, I'll finish my turn by playing the Speed Spell – Sonic Buster. Since I have Four Speed Counters on Speed World, I can deal damage to you equal to half of Celestia's attack."

A beam of energy blasted from the card and struck Warren, making him cry out and swerve his bike haphazardly around the course. He regained control of course, with Auto-Pilot on, and his Speed Counter fell much further to two.

"Now I'll just send these two cards to the graveyard…" he said as he discarded the top two cards from his deck to the graveyard. One of them slipped out, and he laughed, "And I'll summon one of them! Wulf, Lightsworn Beast is automatically summoned to the field if he's discarded from the deck!"

A portal of light grew to size, and a large, humanoid wolf leaped out, carrying a massive axe and glowing claws, with white armor similar to the others. (2,100/300)

"What a comeback folks!" The Emcee shouted over the roar and cheers of the crowd. "In a single turn Jerian has cleared his opponents field, and swarmed his own! Warren's going to need a miracle to pull off this next move!

**(Jerian: 5,600) - - - - - - - (Warren: 5,050)**

"I'm mad now!" Warren shouted, drew, and let his and his opponents rise to three and five, respectively.

"I play my own Speed Spell, Half Size!"

The Spell appeared to the side of him.

"Since I don't feel like losing all those Life Points from before, this allows me to shrink one of your monsters down to size, and let ME gain what it loses in life points! I think I'll take half of Celestia's, and take my gains back, thank you."

Energy began to flow from Celestia, and flowed into Warren. She fell to 1,150 Attack points.

"Then, I'll set one card facedown, and summon my Servant of Catabolism."

A snail, that crackled with electricity, and a see through, bright blue shell appeared in front of him. (700/500)

"Servant of Catabolism, attack him directly!"

The Snail rushed past all three monsters and head butted the blind duelist. He grunted and turned before they almost hit a wall.

"I'll end my turn!"

Jerian drew his card, and his speed counter rose to six, while Warrens fell to four.

"I play Speed Spell – Angel Baton." He said, sliding the card into his D-Wheel. "Now I can draw two cards, at the cost of discarding one."

He drew his cards and added them to his hand. He then grabbed another from his hand and discarded it to the grave.

"Now I'll play another Speed Spell, while I have such nice Speed Counters, Speed Spell – Light Burst!"

The Speed Spell appeared on the field, showing the image of a Batteryman shooting a bolt of lightning at what appeared appeared to be an Ultimate Obedient Fiend.

"Now I select one Light Monster on my side of the field, and its attack increases equal to the other Light monster on the field plus 600!"

Jain Began to glow, and she rose to 3,000 Attack points.

"Jain, attack his Servant of Catabolism!"

Jain rushed toward the snail like creature…

"I activate my trap card, Zero Gravity!" Warren exclaimed as his facedown lifted up. "Now all our monsters are switched to defense mode."

The Servant of Catabolism curled back up into its shell and turned a light blue tint, and Jerian's three monsters curled up also.

"Fine." Jerian grumbled. "I'll set one card facedown, and end my turn."

Warren gleefully drew his next card as their Speed Counters each rose to one. "And now for another Speed Spell!" He shouted, showing the spell card. "Speed Spell – Dash Pilfer! I'll take control of one Defense Position monster on your side of the field under MY control!"

Wulf looked up in time to look shocked, and finally come under the control of Warren.

"And I'll sacrifice him to summon one of my betters, the Spell Canceller!"

Wulf vanished and in its place appeared a spider like creature with a vacuum appeared beside him, skittering beside his master to keep up. (1,800/1,600)

"An interesting strategy from Warren! Not a lot of people use the Spell Canceller anymore, as Horus the Black Flame Dragon stepped in, this card slinked into the shadows!" The emcee shouted.

"Impressed?" Warren grinned. "I just cancelled out your Speed Spells! You're in deep trouble now!"

"I've dealt with worse," Jerian admitted, his eyes still staring forward. "In case you hadn't realized, you're cut off from your own stock of Speed Spells as well."

"I can manage." He said with a small shrug. "In the mean time, these three facedown cards goes facedown, and my servant of catabolism is switched to attack and attack you directly!"

The Catabolism collided with the bike, and Jerian grinned.

"And now my Spell Canceller will attack your Jain, Lightsworn Paladin!"

The Spider like creature fired a blue beam at Jain, obliterating her.

"And that ends my turn, and now the real fun can start!"

**(Jerian: 4,200) - - - - - - - (Warren: 6,200)**

Jerian drew his card and looked at his hand. "Celestia may not be able to take down your weak little machine, but I have plenty in my Graveyard that can! I summon Luminia, Lightsworn Summoner!"

Beside the kneeling Celestia appeared a young, teenage girl with long, silver blond hair and glowing white armor, her hands glowing with bright white. (1,000/1,000)

"And now, by discarding a card in my hand, I can now Special Summon a Level Four or lower Lightsworn Monster."

He prepared to discard his card, but one of warren's traps flipped up.

"Not if I fill your field! I play Ojama Trio!"

Three beams of light shot from the card and filled up the remaining spaces on his field with the Ojama Brothers trio, black, yellow and green. (0/1,000) X 3

Jerian frowned as they spun around the corner of the track for what seemed to be the one hundredth time.

"Fine, Lumina will attack your servant of catabolism before any other damage can be taken."

Lumina charged a ball of energy in her hand and flung it at the watery snail. The monster collapsed in on itself.

"I'll set my own card facedown, and end my turn."

A facedown card appeared behind him.

Warren drew a card, and suddenly, while his Speed Counters rose to, both of Warren's monsters melted into a puddle of molten magma.

"Could it be folks?!" Shouted the Emcee over the roars of the crowd.

From the puddle erupted a massive figure. It was a fiend, composed completely out of lava. It roared and remained behind Jerian as he raced off. (3,000/2,500)

"It is folks! Jerian has summoned one of the most dreaded monsters in the game, the powerful Lava Golem! Jerian may have obtained a powerful monster, but at what costs?!"

"And that brings me to my second facedown, Cloak and Dagger! Now I name a monster card, and should you summon it, the monster is removed from play.

"I name Judgment Dragon."

"Another twist, folks!" The emcee exclaimed. "Now our hero's deck is locked down from his greatest monster, and he has an eyesore of a Fire monster on his field which will not only drain him or 1,000 Life Points, but one Speed Counter! How will he catch up!?"

_I need to fire this guy_ Jerian thought grudgingly as Warren ended his turn, and he drew his card. He hissed in pain as his Life Points went down by 1,000, and his Speed Counters to 9, while Warren rose to 8. He looked at his hand and scowled. However…he looked up at the massive monster behind him.

_Maybe I can use this guy to my advantage!_ He exclaimed in his mind, and he frowned. _Oh…I was hoping to save this in case he summoned something worse than this but…here goes!_

"I play my trap card, Negation Field!"

His trap card flipped up, and the Spell Cancelled was encased in a clear bubble.

"Now for the remainder of my turn, your monsters effects are completely disregarded, meaning I can start playing Spells now!"

"Not if I can help it!" Warrens facedown flipped up. "I play Gravity Bind! Now no monsters on the field with a level of four or higher can attack! So I'm safe!"

"Trust me." Jerian grinned. "If there's anything you are, it's safe. I play Speed Spell – Curse of Fate!"

The Spell appeared on his side of the field, and Lava Golem began to glow as two, glowing chains wrapped around his body, making an x-shape over his chest.

"Now by playing this card, my monster gets two cursed tokens, and by removing one, I can deal you Half my monsters Attack in damage!"

One of the glowing chains disappeared from around Lava Golem, and they whipped at Warren, who screamed in agony as he fell down by 1,500 Life Points, his Speed Counters fell by one, and he swerved across the road. He finally came to a stop, panting hard.

Jerian stopped right beside him with an echoing screech, looking in his general direction. Well, looking would be pushing it, now wouldn't it?

"Are you all right?" he asked his opponent worriedly.

Warren was silent for a moment, and when he looked up, he had a look of untold rage on his face. "You just can't let anyone beat you, can you? Someone's better, and you just say no."

"That's how the pro-league work." Jerian frowned. "I'm supposed to protect my title."

"Well that ends today!" he shouted. "I've been a mock up to these people long enough!"

He revved his D-Wheel hard, and steam rushed from his bike and his wheel.

"I'm done playing nice!"

He zoomed off down the course, and Jerian smirked.

"It's always fun when they lose it.' Jerian laughed, and zoomed off behind him.

…

"Whoo, boy," Damian laughed as he sat next to Scraps, his arms up on the couch as he watched his friend's opponent's rants. "I think he's lost it."

"Lost what, sir" Scraps asked, tilting his head to the side curiously. "I don't see any foreign obtrusions on the race track, so I don't think anything was stolen from him…"

"I really need to teach you some slang, Scraps."

…

"Now it's my draw!" Warren screamed as he drew his card. He didn't notice that his Speed Counters rose to eight once more while Jerian's rose to ten. "I'll summon my Mystic Lamp in attack mode, set one more card facedown, and end my turn!"

Before Jerian had a chance to ask what Mystic Lamp was, it appeared. Its name was very simple, exactly what it implied. It was a lamp. It merely sat there. (400/300)

Jerian cocked an eyebrow and drew his card. He cried out as Lava Golem's lava seeped onto him onto his bike, blocking his senses from the pain he was experiencing, and forced him to shake off the feux lava. He fell one thousand life points further, back down to 9, while Warren finally caught up to him.

"I'll summon Jenis, Lightsworn Mender."

A fairly pretty young lady appeared in beside him, with auburn hair, a long, white, glowing dress, and a small staff in her hand. (300/2,100)

"And I'll remove my final curse counter from my monster, dealing another 1,500 Life Points."

The chain unwrapped itself around its monster and whipped at Warren…

"I discard my monster, Hanewata! Now for the remainder of this turn, your Card effects can't hurt me!"

A bubble of energy ballooned into existence around him, and the chain whipped against the bubble and had no effect.

The blind samurai frowned, and slid two more cards into his deck. "I'll merely end my turn by setting these two cards facedown." He said. "Thus ending my turn." Two facedown cards appeared, and just as quickly as they did, vanished under the blurring roar.

Warren drew, looked at his hand and cackled. "It's about time! I'm done playing around with you, and Spell Canceller has done his job, so I'll play my facedown card, Mirror's Edge!"

The facedown flipped up.

"Now I select one monster on my side of the field, and I'm allowed to Special Summon a Tuner monster from my graveyard to the field with the same Level. So I'll Select my Level one Mystic Lamp, and Special Summon my Level one Hanewata!"

Next to the lamp appeared a small puffball, with bright orange fur, bug like antennae, and a pair of small angel wings. (200/300)

"And now I'll tune my three monsters together to summon my ultimate monster!" he shouted as Hanewata, Mystic Lamp and Spell Canceller turned into seven shimmering stars. The Stars flew into the sky, and a being appeared from the sky.

It seemed as though a jet fighter had turned into a humanoid form, with black, metallic skin and jet thrusters on its back, a pair of wings on its back, and gating guns on its sides. (2,600/1,800)

…

Scraps stared, as though fascinated in this new turn of events, and leaned forward on his seat.

His optic sensors focused, zooming in on the screen.

Why did this seem wrong…?

…

"The Dark Strike Fighter is known amongst the Dueling Circuit as the ultimate Duel finisher! With the ability to launch the monsters and deal damage equal to it's Level, it's seen quite some action in the dueling world!" The emcee shouted. "How he'll get out of this one, I have yet to find out!"

"Okay, he's fired." Jerian finally decided.

"And I'll play the Spell Card Angel Baton, since my Spell Canceller is off the field. Now I can draw two cards in which case I discard one."

He drew his two cards, and discarded one.

"Now, I'll set one card facedown, and end my turn." He said with a smirk.

_My plan is fool proof!" he exclaimed in glee. He's got nothing in his deck that can take our my Dark Strike Fighter. And my facedown is the Meek Shall Inherit, which is going to allow me to summon as many Level Two or lower monsters from my deck. I'll swarm the field and attack him directly with all of them. Then, for the final touches, I'll launch everything at him, and win this duel, this is as good as mine!_

Jerian bowed his head, as he prepared to draw his card. "I need a miracle…' he whispered. "I was told there are no miracles, but there is destiny. And I see it in my destiny to beat you!"

He drew his card and howled as he fell further by another 1,000 Life Points, and his Speed Counters fell to 10, while Warren rose to 11.

**(Jerian: 1,200) - - - - - - - (Warren: 4,700)**

He looked at his drawn card, and he smirked. "Perfect. I first play my facedown, Altar for Tribute, and I'll Tribute your Lava Golem to pad my Life Points a little bit, and get it off my field."

Lava Golem dissolved into pixels, which were then absorbed into Jerian. He sighed, his heat racing again.

"And now I'll summon my next Monster, Lyla, Lightsworn Sorcerer."

Another young lady appeared, this one wearing long, white robes and long, raven black hair. She held a staff in her hand, similar to that of Janis'. (1,700/200)

"Then, I'll play my facedown Solar Ray. For every Light Monster on my side of the field, you lose 600 Life Points. And since you were oh so generous with your tokens, you lose a maximum of 3,000 life Points."

Jerian howled in agony as a massive beam struck him from the side from the trap. His life points heavily fell, and he lost an impressive three Speed Counters.

"Now, I'll use Lyla's effect. By switching her to Defense mode, I can now destroy one Spell or trap on your side of the field, and I'm tired of being locked down by that Cloak and Dagger Trap."

The trap that had nearly been forgotten the whole duel glowed, with cracks appearing over it, and finally exploded. Lyla kneeled down in defense mode.

"Finally, to complete my combo, I'll play my facedown Compulsory Evacuation Device!"

"No!" Warren cried in horror. "You're going to send my monster back to my Extra Deck!"

"Please, YOUR monster. I have bigger things for him. I'm returning Lyla to my hand!"

Lyla vanished, and a card appeared in his hand again.

"What could our champion be planning folks?! He has sent his own card to his hand, and left an extremely dangerous monster on the field! What is he…oh my! Could he be doing what I think he's doing?!"

"yeah, what ARE you doing?" Warren asked, completely confused.

"Well, let's look at the facts. I just destroyed your Cloak and Dagger trap card, which was holding down my Judgment Dragon, and I just cleared up a space on my monster card zone."

It dawned on Warren, and he paled rather humorously.

"I summon to the field Judgment Dragon!"

From the sky appeared a monster large enough to block out the very sun. It was a Dragon of monstrous proportions, with silver fur around it's body, massive wings coming from it's back and a look of unknown power coming from it. It was bigger than the Lava Golem as it flew behind its master. (3,000/2,500)

"He's done it folks! Our hero has summoned his greatest monster! It looks like we have a winner!"

"Judgment Dragon, destroy the field with your judgment call, and attack him directly!"

Judgment Dragon inhaled deeply and fired a beam of amazing energy out of his mouth onto the middle of the field. It exploded, wiping everything from the imposing dragon from the field…

And Warren screamed as the dragon blasted him through the thick smoke, and knocked him from off his bike. He screamed louder as his Duel Disk shut off automatically, and he skid to a halt. Panting, his eyes wide, Jerian zoomed past him.

**(Jerian: 2,300) - - - - - - - (Warren: 0)**

"And our winner and still champion, Jerian!"

The crowd erupted into roars of joy, their hero winning again.

…

"Woo! Go Jerian, teach that guy whose boss!" Damian shouted, jumping up from his seat and pumping a fist into the air, in excitement for his friend.

Scraps frowned and stood up, but not for a cheer, but he needed to do some research. He walked over and sat down. His eyes went blue as he accessed the internet…

…

"Ah, there's my blind little piggy bank."

"I told you, Ario, to not call me that."

His duel won, Jerian was asked to come to his managers office. He had no qualms with this, as he was very close to his manager. Maybe because he was like a friend, maybe because he sponsored him when no one else would.

But perhaps the main reason was because Ario was the man who taught Jerian the ways of the sword, and the use of all of his other senses.

Ario was a middle aged man, with graying hair and some wrinkles on his face, but he seemed anything but weak and old. He still showed quite a bit of muscle, even under his fancy two piece suit. He wore a pair of sunglasses, which covered his bright green eyes.

"You're good kid, perhaps a little too good," Ario said with a nod as he sat down behind his desk. "People are gonna start picking up on your strategies, and they're gonna start making counters for that!"

"Ario, I can guarantee that isn't going to happen." Jerian said, feeling around for a chair and pulled it out, sitting down on it. "It may happen, but it will not be any form of challenge for me. In case you haven't forgotten, when I first dueled a so called "Counter" deck, I managed to take care of it without any form of challenge."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right." Ario admitted after a moment. "I just don't want my best duelist getting his title taken away just because some snot nosed bastard managed to make a deck of cards made to counter yours."

"Ario," Jerian soothed. "I promise you, it's not going to happen. I have faith in my deck, and I'm sure as long as that's the case, it will not fail me."

"You and your cards are getting a little cocky," Ario chuckled. "But I'm gonna keep you to that. If you lose, then I'm disowning you as my star pupil."

"However will I go on if that happens." Jerian laughed, and Ario smirked.

…

"Come on Scraps, hurry up." He said, poking the homunculus in the head, sighing. "You tie up all the phone lines when you access the internet this way…"

Scraps' eyes blinked back to green, and he shook his head. "I apologize." He said, bowing his head to Jerian. "I just needed to double check something."

"What?" Damian asked, blinking.

Scraps was silent for a moment. "I thought something was wrong with that duel." He said softly.

"Damian, did you know that the Dark Strike Fighter was banned two months before this tournament? How was Warren able to play it…"

Damian was silent.

…

**Direct Border  
Type: **Trap/Continuous  
**Image**: Two Warriors separated by a glowing line of line  
**Effect**: All attacks on a players Life Points with an ATK of 1,000 or more are Negated. If a player takes less than 1,000 damage from an attack, he draws a card.

_Note: Direct Border was first used by Manjoume in the fourth season of Yugioh GX. All creative credit goes to the writer of that episode._

**Speed Spell – Angel Baton  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: The angel from Graceful Charity holding a small blue bead in her hand  
**Effect**: You can only activate this card if you have 2 or more Speed Counters. Draw 2 cards from your deck, then discard one card from your hand.

_Note: Speed Spell – Angel Baton was first used by Crow in a future episode of Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's, although seen in his hand in a previous episode._

**Speed Spell – Half Size  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: A portal ofblue yellow and green energy.  
**Effect**: You can only activate this card when you have 4 or more Speed Counters. Select one monster your opponent controls. Halve it's ATK, and gain Life Points equal to it's ATK.

_Note: Speed Spell – Half Size will be used by Jack Atlas in a future Episode of Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's._

**Speed Spell – Curse of Fate  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: Candles and chains floating in front of an abyss.  
**Effect**: You can only activate this card if you have 2 or more Speed Counters. Place 2 "Cursed Counters" on one face up monster you control. Once per turn, by removing one "Cursed Counter" from your monster, you can inflict damage to your opponent equal to half the monsters ATK. If you do that, the monster cannot attack this turn.

_Note: Speed Spell – Curse of Fate will be used by D-Carly (Dark Carly) in a future episode of 5D's. All Creative Credit goes to the writers of that episode_

**Speed Spell - Dash Pilfer  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: A character that resembles someone from the show Eyeshield 21 stealing what appears to be a football.  
**Effect**: You can only activate this card if you have 4 or more Speed Counters. Take control of one face up Defense Position monster your opponent controls until the end phase.

**Speed Spell – Sonic Buster  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: a robot like creature bombarding a man with sound waves.  
**Effect**: You can only activate this card if you have 4 or more Speed Counters. Select 1 monster you control and deal damage to your opponents life points equal to half it's ATK. (You cannot activate this card if your opponents Life Points would become 0)

_Note: Speed Spell Dash Pilfer and Speed Spell Sonic Buster were first used by Ushio in the Anime Episode Pipe Dreams. All creative Credit goes to the writer of that episode._

**Speed Spell – Light burst  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: A batteryman shooting a bolt of lightning at a screaming Ultimate Obedient Fiend  
**Effect**: You can only activate this card when you have 4 or more Speed Counters. Select one face up LIGHT-Monster you control. The Selected monster gains 600 ATK for each face up LIGHT-monster on the field until the end phase of this turn.

**Mirror's Edge  
Type**: Trap/Continuous  
**Image**: Junk Synchron looking into a Mirror as Elemental Hero Avian looks back at him.  
**Effect**: Select one face up monster on your side of the field. Special summon one Tuner-Monster from your graveyard with the same Level as the Selected monster. The monster Special Summoned by this effect cannot declare an attack and its effects are negated. If the selected monster is sent to the graveyard, it is removed from play.

**Negation Field  
Type**: Trap  
**Image**: Kozaky making immature faces at a furious Demise, King of Armageddon, who is being held in a clear, energy bubble.  
**Effect**: Select one face up monster on the opponents side of the field. The Selected monsters effect(s) are negated until the end phase of this turn

_Note: Negation Field was created by Metal Overlord 2.0. all creative credit goes to him._

…

And my first riding duel. Gotta say, keeping track of Speed Counters is hard. Gonna need to take care of that in the future. Anyway, Scraps delves a little deeper into this "Forbidden Card" mystery, and Damian decides to do some research on his own. However, he's stopped by the police! Can Damian take care of this mysterious, lone policeman, and why does she look so familiar? Find out next time on "Patroid" coming soon!


	3. Patroid

Disclaimer: I do not own the shadow chasers, Yugioh or Yugioh 5D's in general. I own the characters that appear in this fic unless stated otherwise.

…

"I'm tell you, Master Jerian," Scraps said to the blind swordsman as he walked down the hallway, the junk homunculus followed behind him, "There was something very odd about this, the Dark Strike Fighter had been banned prior to your duel with Mr. Warren. A duel disk is automatically reprogrammed to sense banned cards, and should be unable to play it, in fact, it should send a signal to the tournament official!"

"So what are you saying Scraps?" Jerian said, not bothering to look back at his friend and Damian's experiment, for what good what it do him? "Maybe they updated the ruling or something like that?"

"Impossible, I would be one of the first people to know if they updated the Duel monsters ruling," he hit his head with his own fist to emphasis this, having all the hard ware to get wifi if so needed. "And I didn't hear about any changes to the ruling, ban list or no ban list."

"So what are you saying?"

"Counterfeit."

Scraps and Jerian both turned in the direction, and there stood Damian, holding an open Cell Phone in his hand. He closed it after a moment.

"There's a lot of sick people out there, and some of them happen to master counterfeiters," he said, "I'm sure you remember quite a few shadows we've dealt with in the past who have had counterfeit cards."

"Too true." Jerian nodded.

"And it's not like this has stopped, but having Warren, an actual tournament goer, use one, and not have a single tournament official remember it's banned or even get a signal that they're using a banned card worries me. That means the counterfeiter is out there somewhere still, and he's getting more and more daring."

"Why do you have your phone out, Master Damian?" Scraps asked curiously, his sensors blinking in curiosity.

"One of my contacts," he said, "A guy who happens to have a lot of contacts and a LOT of insider information."

"Is this guy as good as you think he is?"

Damian chuckled a little bit. "Never doubt a gremlin."

…

Damian was the only one outside at this time of night, currently under the bright yellow light that belonged to a flickering street lamp. Beside him, however, was a very over dressed for someone who lived in the city of angels. To anyone else, he looked like an elderly old man, with thin glasses and a top hat, but an aware knew far much more.

The man had green scaly skin, long sharp claws and large, bat like ears that stuck out on either side of his hat. He clutched his coat closer to him, looking around nervously.

"Evening, Glitch," Damian greeted to the smaller shadow, "how goes the job at the electronics section in Wal-Mart?"

The aforementioned Glitch looked up at him, the yellow, reptilian eye shimmering in the light, and grinned. "Booming," he said, "Halfway through the week, and we've all ready sold out on blu-ray players." He cackled in a raspy voice, and hacked into his mouth. "You humans would sell your own mother just to get the latest little gadget, and even then throw THAT out for the next little thing that comes out a month later, just because it's a little bit smaller."

"You're talking to a guy who is completely content with his DVD/VHS player, his Duel Disk, D-Runner, occasional computer, and I'm completely good in the electronic world," Damian said, leaning against the lamp post, "However, there is some other information I'm sure you know more than me about that I'm QUITE interested in getting into…"

Glitch looked back and forth nervously, looking back up at him. "I saw the duel," he said, "I bet you anything you're wanting to know how that Warren guy got a Dark Strike Fighter and got away with it, aren't you? Maybe I know, maybe I don't," he said, holding his thumb and talon out, rubbing them together slowly. "It all depends on what you have to offer that gets me talking."

Damian glared at the smaller, scaly creature behind his shades, and kneeled down, getting right into his face, "Okay then," he said, "If you need incentive, all you had to do was ask, cause any information you have that could help me shut down whoever's making the illegal cards and that Duel Disks can't read would be incentive for me not to report to HQ how you and the other gremlins downtown have been jinxing electronics to suddenly shut down right after the money back guarantee offer expires."

Glitch's breath hitched hard in his throat, and he growled, showing the dark duelist his impressive line of sharp teeth. "That's a low blow, Damian." He said, "You realize how difficult it is being a gremlin? We get enough crap from the fey's, the lousy tree huggers." He grumbled. "They never forgave us for our ancestors naming one of their own after them. Do you realize how many electronics we've done, just to have them take credit for it? A lot."

Damian knew of this, as Gremlins' prided themselves in being able to take anything electronic apart at the seams in record time.

One of the most elaborate schemes they intended on doing was the dreaded Y2K, which, unbeknownst to the mundane, was more than a hoax, as a group of elite gremlins had planned it ten years before the new millennium to make every possible electronic in the world crash. As payback to the fey.

"Look, I can stand here and pity the gremlins forever, but I have a job I need to do, Glitch." Damian said, "I need any sort of information on this guy as you go, any little bit will help."

Glitch looked back and forth again, and pulled out a manila folder from his jacket. "You didn't get this from me.' He said, "but I found a file with this guys, names Giovanni, LAPD tried to grab him a load of times but he always managed to get out from under their noses almost everytime. I say he's got some shadows working for him."

Damian grabbed the folder. "I owe you Glitch."

"Yeah, you owe me big time and don't you forget it."

"Where did you get this anyway?"

"Heh, the LAPD aren't the smartest group in the bunch—"

He suddenly squealed and hid his eyes as a pair of spotlights went right in his face, blinding him for a moment.

"They can be crafty though! It's the police, scatter!" Glitch scattered off into the darkness, not wanting to go to the slammer…again.

Damian, thankful for his shades, grit his teeth and turned right around, hopping onto his D-Runner and zoomed off.

"You two, after the small one!" shouted the obvious leader of the group of Police that had come to apprehend the two. "The other one's mine!"

Their bikes revved, and the group split up.

…

_Can't lose the file,_ Damian thought, _It's my only lead, and if I don't, there's no way I can find this Giovanni guy, it'll take forever…_

"Stop right there, criminal!"

Damian turned around to see the Police officer from before catching up to him, and fast.

"Pull over right this minute, and I won't have to take extreme measures!"

_Well, I'm in trouble._ He thought, and continued to drive, not looking behind him anymore.

"You're holding an important document of the Los Angeles Police Department, return it, NOW!"

"Sorry, don't plan on it!"

The officer sneered from under his helmet, and pressed a button on his bike, and much to Damian's shock, his D-Runners AI spoke up in it's soft, melodic feminine voice.

"Speed World activated, Turbo Duel Initiated."

"Say what?" He asked in surprise. "I didn't activate Speed World!"

"You didn't," said the officer from behind him, "Let's just say my own bike has been outfitted with special parts from Sector Security all the way from Neo Domino city, to help battle the scum of this city in more ways than one, and having my new over ride parts is one of the many new things I happened to get!"

Damian grit his teeth, watching as Speed World spread out across the two duelists,

_Guess I'm in this for the long run…well, it's a duel I don't plan on losing!_

"Fine, you want it, then you got it!"

"Let's duel!"

**(Damian: 8,000/Speed Counters: 0) - - - - - - - (Officer: 8,000/Speed Counters: 0)**

"And I'll go first," Damian said as he grabbed his card. "Draw!"

He drew his opening hand of six, and looked at his options.

"I'll summon Dark Crusader in Attack Mode."

A portal of blue light opened beside him, and a warrior in black leather and metal bits over his body, a head of bright, crimson hair, a skull missing all of it's skull, and a massive sword in his right hand. (1,600/200)

"Now for some added defense, I'll use his effect, and discard two Dark cards from my hand to give me 400 Attack Points each."

He slid both cards into his graveyard, and Dark Crusader glowed. He rose to 2,400 Attackpoints.

"Then, I'll set this one card facedown, and I end my turn."

The Officer drew his own card and looked at it. "I'll admit, it's Attack is pretty impressive, but it's Defense score is nearly non existent. Exploiting that, I'll set this monster in facedown defense mode, and set these two cards facedown."

A facedown monster appeared beside him, and two spell/traps behind that one. The facedowns blurred from existence.

"I'll then end my turn."

Damian drew his card and added it to the card holding his D-Runner had. He pointed forward. "Dark Crusader, attack his facedown defense card with Dark Sword Blaze!"

The Dark Crusader flew forward and sliced the defense with his sword. On the card appeared a smooth looking rock like creature, with two red, beady eyes, a pointed nose, and a slit that looked like the mouth. It winced and exploded into pixels.

"Ha, that was my Gonogo!" The officer shouted. "Since you attacked him, your monster is flipped into facedown defense Position!"

The Dark Crusader vanished, and in it's place appeared a defense monster.

"But I'm not done just yet, because I'll play my trap card, Soul Rope." His first facedown flipped face up, "now by paying a measly 1,000 life Points, I can Special Summon a Level Four monster from my deck, like my Gate Blocker!"

A shape appeared directly in front of Damian, one that made him nearly screech to a halt. It was a large wall, with the eye of wdjat in the center. (0/2,000)

"Hope you can do a lot with that one Speed Counter of yours, because as long as my Gate Blocker is on the field, you can't add any more Speed Counters to Speed world through its own effect anymore!"

_That can prove to be a problem, _He thought. "Fine, I'll end my turn."

**(Damian: 8,000/SC: 1) - - - - - - - (Officer: 7,000/SC: 0)**

"Heh, you're gonna get away from me that easily, Dark boy," he drew his card, "I always get my man!"

_The hell? _He thought cautiously, _Why did THAT sound familiar?_

The officer drew her card swiftly, and added it onto her own card holder. She threw a card forward, shouting, "I play Speed Spell – Count up, I discard these two cards, and I gain four more Speed Counters."

His Speed Counter rose up, each one causing a beep to signify there had been a Speed Counter adding.

"Then, I'll summon Assault Dog."

A running, panting Doberman flashed beside him, its tounge flailing out as it jogged beside it's owner. (1,200/800)

"And he's going to attack your defense Position Dark Crusader!"

The Dog, barking loudly, rushed forward, and pounced at the defense monster…

Necro Gardna appeared between him and the defense, and backhanded the animal away from the defense monster.

The officer grunted, and looked at his hand. "I'll just end my turn, then. Give me your best shot."

"You're gonna regret saying that." He said. "Draw!"

**(Damian: 8,000/SC: 1) - - - - - - - (Officer: 7,000/SC: 5)**

Looking at his hand, he smirked. "I sacrifice my facedown Dark Crusader for Dark General Freed!"

The monster vanished, and in his place was a dark form of the powerful Freed, the Matchless General. Except this one looked the near opposite of the good general, and gave a feel of malice. His skin a bright blue, his eyes blood shot red, and his hair silver. His armor was a gold and black combination, and his right hand on a jewel encrusted sword handle. (2,300/1,700)

"I could attack that Dog of yours." He said. "But I'm not gonna get anywhere unless I take out that Blocker or yours, so Dark General Freed will attack him!"

Freed unsheathed his blade, which was as dark as he was, and cleaved the Gate Blocker into twain. The rock monster exploded into pixels.

"Chain!" The officer shouted. "Broken Blocker! Since you got cocky enough to destroy my Gate Blocker, I can summon two more monsters from my deck with the same name."

Damian nearly screeched to a halt again as two more of the Gate Blockers slammed down in front of him. (0/2,000) X 2

"Crap…" He said under gritted teeth. "I end my turn then…"

The officer drew, and looked at the two cards in his hand.

**(Damian: 8,000/SC: 1) - - - - - - - (Officer: 7,000/SC: 6)**

"I summon Jutte Warrior in Attack Mode."

A small, humanoid creature appeared, someone that Damian could have sworn was labled after an old, manga based Sensei. He carried a fork, and what looked like a water tank on his back. (700/900)

"Know what's so unique about Jutte Warrior?" The officer asked.

"Aside from looking very offensive?" Damian queried.

"No! He's a tuner!" he pointed to the sky. "Jutte Warrior and one of my Gate Blockers, Synchro Summon!"

One of the massive, stone tablets, and the small human leapt into the air, exploding into six, glowing stars…

"Synchro Summon, Goyo Guardian!"

A new, imposing form appeared beside him. This one looked like a heavily muscled kabuki actor, holding the same weapon Jutte Warrior wielded, but on a long rope. (2,800/2,000)

Damian gulped, looking up at one of the most dreaded synchros in the game, gritting his teeth.

"Then, I'll play Speed Spell - Rapid Wing Shot! This gives my monster 100 Attack points for every Speed Counter I have."

Goyo Guardian glowed with energy, and his Attack Rose to 3,400.

"Goyo Guardian, Attack Dark General Freed!"

Goyo Guardian spun his weapon around, and flicked the weapon at the dark skinned general. The monster exploded into pixels.

**(Damian: 6,900/SC: 0) - - - - - - - (Officer: 7,000/SC: 6)**

"Hope you can get off with no monsters or Speed Counters!" he laughed. "And because Goyo Guardian destroyed a monster on your side of the field, I get that monster myself, free of charge."

Dark General Freed appeared beside Goyo Gaurdian, kneeling down in defense mode. (2,300/1,700)

"Assault Dog, attack him directly!"

The dog snarled and rushed forward, his mouth opened to reveal his massive teeth.

"Activate trap card!" he shouted quickly. "Return from the Dark Dimension! I can Special Summon one Dark Monster I've removed from play!"

The heavily armor Necro Gardna appeared beside Damian, curled up in defense mode. (600/1,300)

The Dog barked at the intrusion, and dashed back over to his owners side of the field.

"You're only delaying your own inevitable arrest!" the officer shouted in anger. "I end my turn!"

Damian drew his card and looked at it. Two cards slid out of his graveyard, and he pocketed them. "I remove these two cards from play, and send this one card to the graveyard."

After discarding the aforementioned card, and then finished by stating, "I set one more card facedown, and end my turn."

The officer drew his card and looked at it.

**(Damian: 6,900/SC: 0) - - - - - - - (Officer: 7,000/SC: 7)**

"I switch your Freed into Attack mode, and have my Goyo Guardian attack your Necro Gardna!"

The Guardian flung his weapon forward, and the dark warrior shattered. It reappeared at the Officers side of the field, right beside Dark Freed.

"Dark General Freed, attack him directly!" the Officer shouted.

The Dark Warrior took a leap towards his previous owner and sliced at him. Damian cried out and nearly skid off the road, but then he pointed to his facedown, which flipped up. "Activate Doom Accelerator! Since I just took damage, I gain One Speed Counter for every 500 Life Points I just lost!"

Damian's runner roared, and he soon was catching up to the officer.

"You better get use to it, because you're not gonna get off that easy! Assault Dog, attack him directly!"

Damian cried out as the dog bit down hard on his arm, and he almost lost control again. He shook the dog off, and shook his now throbbing wrist. "Ow…dammit."

"Heh." The officer grinned from under his helmet. "I'll end my turn, and…by the way, hope your dodging skills are top notch."

"Hm?" Damian asked, and looked ahead of him. His eyes widened, as he and his opponent were reaching a very busy intersection, the cars going back and forth rapidly.

The officer grinned and turned a very sharp turn, and zoomed down a connecting alleyway.

Damian, on the other hand didn't have enough time to turn his own runner around down the alleyway, far too close to the cars to turn and avoid a head on collision.

He grit his teeth, and gripped the handlebars on his runner harder. He lifted the front wheel off the ground, and hit the back of a bright, yellow taxi. Luckily, it was just at the right angle to send him flying into the air. Shifting his weight, he managed to change where he would land in mid air. He landed on the top of a Semi-Truck that was stuck at a red light. Screeching to a halt, he panted, hitting his chest hard with his fist to get his adrenalnine down, lest he have a heart attack at such a young age.

The Truck Driver stuck his head out of the window and looked up in wonder at the man on the Motorcycle on the very top of his big rig, and he spat out the window. "Hey, buddy!" he shouted angrily, "You mind telling me what the HELL you're doing?!"

Damian, however, didn't see him, and looked off to the side. Revving his runner again, he flew off the big rig, leaving the truck driver in a stupor as he watched Damian weave through the traffic like an expert, despite the giant Gate Blocker still being in front of him, though for the sake of what he was going through, it went transparent for a moment

Finally escaping the car maze hell, he continued his ride, and, to his own shock, saw the officer beside him, a large grin on his face from behind his helmet.

"Guess I can't shake you that easily, can I?" he laughed.

"Damn right you can't," Damian shouted, and snatched the top card off of his disk.

**(Damian: 3,400/SC: 3) - - - - - - - (Officer: 7,000/SC: 8)**

He looked at the card, and his eyes opened wide. _I knew there was a reason I put this thing in there…_

He waved his hand, and a bonfire of black fire erupted behind him. "And since I discarded her last time, I can summon Dark Nephtys in Attack Mode!"

From the bonfire appeared the massive black and gun metal skinned phoenix. It let loose a shriek. (2,400/1,600)

The officer grimaced, and looked over at Freed. _If he was smart, he'd take out Freed, since he's got the second highest Atta—_

"Nephtys, attack his Gate Blocker!"

"Huh?"

Nephtys screeched and released a ball of black fire that struck the giant stone tablet, which shuddered and exploded into fragments.

"You didn't attack my Assault Dog, or even Freed?" The officer asked in confusion. "Why?"

"I have my reasons," Damian said, "I set this card facedown, and end my turn."

The officer drew his card, and looked at it, smirking. "This ends now!"

**(Damian: 3,400/SC: 4) - - - - - - - (Officer: 7,000/SC: 9)**

"Goyo Guardian, attack his Nephtys!"

The strange looking weapon flew forward, and struck the Phoenix. A second later, she appeared on the field, curled up with her wings around her body.

"Freed, Assault Dog, finish him off!"

The Warrior and the beast rushed forward…

"Heh, never before would I be this thankful for this trap!" his facedown flipped up.

"Remove Brainwashing!"

The officer gasped aloud, and watched as the traps power rippled through the duel. Nephtys, Freed, and the Necro Gardna floated back over to Damian's side of the field.

"You…you…"

"Completely decimated your strategy?" Damian asked, "Oh, I agree, because it works very simply. Any monster you destroy will be summoned to YOUR side of the field, but oh, look, my Remove Brainwashing returns any monster that happens to be mine to my side of the field. I have to thank you, as long as I have a monster and you use Goyo, I have a nice little shield!"

_He's right…_He thought to himself, _Goyo's lost his power, he's as good as a beat stick right now…but I can deal with Beatstick for now!_

"I end my turn then, but let's see how long that streak of luck of yours can last!"

Rather than drawing, Damian stated, "I'll play my Dark Freed's effect, now that I have him again. I'll take a Level Four Dark monster form my deck to my hand."

A card stuck out, and Damian snatched it. His D-Runner shuffled his deck automatically.

**(Damian: 3,000/SC: 5) - - - - - - - (Officer: 7,000/SC: 10)**

"Then I'll special summon that monster, by discarding my Level Eight Dark C reator, and Special Summoning Dark Grepher."

Discarding the card, Grepher appeared right beside the crouching Phoenix, his sword over his lap.

"And I'll use his effect. Discarding my Regenerating Rose from my hand to send a Dark Tomato from my deck to the graveyard."

Discarding the two cards, he showed a new monster, shouting, "I summon Prometheus, King of the Shadows in Attack Mode."

His field now full, a monster appeared right beside the others, a frightening, shrouded creature, heavily muscled with a loud, whipping purple cape, the body seeming like pure darkness. (1,200/800)

"And I'll use his effect, and remove from play every dark monster in my graveyard from play to give him 400 Attack points for each one!"

The Spirits of The Dark Tomato, the Regenerating Rose, Dark Creator and Spirit Reaper flew into the cloaked beings body, and he rose to 2,800.

"Prometheus, attack Goyo Guardian with flare of the ancients!"

Collecting a fire ball in his hand, the dark shadowed creature fired a fire ball over at the Goyo Guardian. The Synchro screamed before exploding into pixels, and the King of the Shadows shattered soon behind him.

"Dark Nephtys, attack his Assault Dog!"

The Phoenix inhaled deeply, and released a torrent of fire on the canine. It yelped before exploding into pixels.

"By destroying my Assault Dog, I can automatically summon another from my deck, this one in defense mode!"

Another dog appeared, sitting down. (1,200/800)

"Dark General Freed, YOU get it!"

Freed rushed forward, and sliced the dog into pixels.

"I have one more!"

Another Dog appeared. (1,200/800)

Damian scowled. "Fine, I end my turn…"

The officer drew her card and looked at it. He grinned.

**(Damian: 3,000/SC: 6) - - - - - - - (Officer: 5,800/SC: 10)**

"I start by playing Speed Spell – Angel Baton. I now draw two cards, and discard one."

He drew his two cards, and discarded one of the cards in his hand.

"I now get rid of your Remove Brainwashing to summon my Trap Eater!"

The trap vanished, and on the officer's side of the field appeared a hideous looking creature, with black skin, a large mouth filled with teeth, and small, beady eyes. (1,900/1,600)

"Then, I'll offer my Assault Dog to summon Handcuffs Dragon!"

The dog turned into an orb of multi colored light, and morphed into a giant, rust colored dragon, its head and tail making a giant circle, similar to that of a pair of handcuffs. (1,800/1,800)

"My Dragon Attacks your Dark General Freed!"

The Dragon snaked forward to the general, who back handed the dragon away. At this time, the two duelist zipped down a, thankfully, empty street, which was rather off, but the tracking devices on the D-Runner gave them the clearest path.

The Dragon, however, didn't shatter into pieces, but rather, wrapped around the general, locking his arms and knees together. (500/1,700)

"Trap Eater, attack his Dark General Freed!"

The Trap Eater zoomed forward and bit down on General Freed, eating him alive.

Damian hissed in pain as he lost his Life points and a speed counter.

**(Damian: 1,600/SC: 5) - - - - - - - (Officer: 5,300/SC: 11)**

"And since that happened, I get my Dragon again!"

The Dragon appeared on his side of the field, and curled up in defense mode.

Damian drew and looked at his hand, making sure that the folder was still in his possession. His eyes widened as he saw what he had drawn, and grinned.

"You're in trouble now!" he shouted. "I sacrifice my Necro gardna for Darklord Zerato!"

The monster vanished, and in his place appeared Damian's key card. The massive, fallen angel flew over the field, his sword gleaming in the bright, Los Angeles light. (2,800/2,300)

"Chain!" The officer shouted. "I play my trap card, Intercept! With this, I can gain control of one monster on your side of the field that was summoned by releasing a single monster! And you just did that!"

A large net flew from the trap and snagged the large, fallen angel. Zerato gasped as he was dragged over and deposited on his side of the field.

"I can deal with what I have." Damian said. "Dark Nephtys, attack his Trap Eater!"

The phoenix released another torrent of black flames and hit the field, blowing it to pieces.

"I end my turn, which means you now lose your Zerato!"

Zerato groaned loudly, and exploded into pixels.

The officer drew his card, and his Speed Spells went up by one.

**(Damian: 1,600/SC: 6) - - - - - - (Officer: 4,900/SC: 12)**

He grinned ast his hand, and showed his new card. "I play Speed Spell – Accelerator Draw! Since I have Twelve Speed Counters, I can now draw two cards."

He drew his two cards and looked at them. He frowned.

"I'll just end my turn…"

Damian drew his card, and smirked. He had a plan now.

"I play Speed Spell – Creature Incarnate. Now, since I have six or more Speed Counters, I can bring back any Monster I want from my grave, and add it to my hand." He said, as he added Darklord Zerato back to his hand from his graveyard.

"Then, I'll offer both Nephtys and Dark Grepher to summon him!"

Darklord Zerato appeared in place of the two monsters. (2,800/2,300)

"And I'll discard this…" he discarded a Regenerating Rose. "And destroy every monster on your side of the field!"

Zerato lifted his blade up high into the air, and a bolt of lightning struck it, reflecting off the surface, and struck the handcuffs Dragon. The monster exploded into pixels.

"I don't care! I'm still in this duel!" the officer shouted. "I'll just take you out next turn, you have NO idea what I can summon!"

"No, because I'm not going to stick around long enough to find out. I play Speed Spell – Power Baton!"

The Speed Spell appeared on the field.

"Now, by sending one monster in my deck to my graveyard, and my monster gains Attack equal to what I just sent's attack. I'll send Dark Horus to my graveyard.

Dark Horus appeared behind Darklord Zerato, the dark dragon was absorbed into his body. The angel rose to 5,800.

"Darklord Zerato, finish him off with Blasphemic Charge!"

The officer screamed as the attack struck him, and he ended up spinning out into a nearby alley, slamming into a group of garbage cans , sending their contents all over the alley and the street.

"Whoa…" Damian gasped as he pulled over.

**(Damian: 1,600/SC: 7) - - - - - - - (Officer: 0/SC: 7)**

He began to sift through the garbage quickly, as he would feel remorse if the man was even the least bit hurt. "Are you okay?" he asked, pulling the man out. "Speak to me!"

Damian now got a better look at the man's body. Wait, man? His uniform looked rather snug…especially in the chest area…

His eyes widened. Oh boy.

The man, or woman, as the case may be, laughed loudly, her voice now relatively high, and losing all masculinity it had kept over the duel. She sat up, and pulled her helmet off her head, grinning at him.

The woman in question had to be in her early twenties, obviously, with long blonde hair, which covered up her right eye. Her left eye was a bright blue, and her skin was relatively pale. She grinned up at him.

"Heh, you're getting better, Dark boy," the woman teased.

Damian had to grin at her in return. "Lord knows you made good target practice, Angua."

…

The history behind Damian and Angua is one that is a bit shaky, if anything.

Angua's family, specifically her mothers side, had a long history of being in the law enforcement, a tradition her mother held proudly. Angua, for the longest time, hoped to make her mother proud by continuing this tradition by joining the Police Academy when she would come of age.

Her fathers side of the family, on the other hand, was something that she didn't know about, and it would hinder her chances. See, her father was a full blooded lycanthrope, who left Angua and her mother while the former was at an early age, not wanting to hurt his wife or his child, or risk any serious harm to anyone else.

Angua's wolf half began to awaken when she reached puberty, having a mother who managed to take care of her in the starting stages of being a Werewolf at such a young age. Only when she grew older did she become more and dangerous during each transformation, until one fateful night she managed to escape.

Going on a rampage in the Los Angeles downtown district, it would have been a massive disaster, and LA would have been the epicenter of a massive Werewolf outbreak, had Damian not been there while all ready on another entirely different, and managed to sedate her and bring her back to his HQ.

Upon waking up, Angua was an emotional mess, thinking that she was either going insane, or even worse, was some kind of freak. Damian was just able to calm her down, which, at the time, was no small feat, and explained to her the world of the shadows. After doing as much research on her family history as she could, Damian managed to pull a few string with Jalal, asking her to be put under Damian's charge.

If she ever went crazy again like she did, it would be Damian's responsibilty to not only keep her from hurting anyone, but to keep the authorities from learning of her true nature, which otherwise would have ruined any chances of a normal life, and fulfilling her duty of being an officer.

So, with Damian's help she enlisted in the LAPD, doubling as both an unofficial member of the Shadowchasers, providing both intel and on site assistance, provided it fell under her jurisdiction and didn't break any mundane laws.

"So, why did you need these again?" Angua asked as she and Damian walked into Damian's home again, and was once again greeted by Scraps.

"Ah, Miss Angua, welcome, may I fix you something to eat or drink?"

"Just Coffee, Scraps, Black, as usual."

Scraps disappeared and set upon fixing Damian and Angua their requests, and Damian pulled out the folder.

"We needed these because I'm smelling something fishy here," he said, opening it up, "Me and Scrap's thinks that someone out there is making counterfeit cards, and since they don't show up on anyone's duel disk, I'm figuring someone out there is using something pretty powerful."

"Well, you know, you could have asked for the file, rather than making us both go through hell…" Angua mumbled.

"I ask you, my dear Canine, where is the fun in that?" He grinned and looked in the file. "Okay, there's only one guy here, but it looks like our man. Giovanni Williams."

"Williams?" Angua asked, laughing. "You're going to try and catch Williams? He's a sneaky little bastard, he keeps disappearing everytime we get near him, he's been on the LAPD's wanted list for the past year or so, he never leaves behind a scrap of evidence he was even there."

"True as that may be," Jerian spoke up from the corner he was meditating in, "Sometimes you have to look in the most obvious place before you can find what you're looking for."

"Most obvious place?" Angua asked. "Hmmm…well, we've done his house…the abandoned buildings off in the Downtown Los Angeles district, Westlake, All of Greater Hollywood…"

"Maybe he's near the harbor," Scraps said as he walked in, "I happen to believe there are quite a few abandoned buildings near the harbor, and those seem pretty popular places for criminals to hide in…at least, that's what months of watch movies would tell me."

"The harbor hm…?" Angua asked. "No one's really been looking there…well, it worth a shot, and at the very least, it would give us a little bit more headway on where he could be if we cancel out places he isn't."

And so, they planned.

…

**Gate Blocker  
Type: **Rock/Earth/Effect**  
Attack/Defense**: 0/2,000  
**Stars: **4**  
Effect: **As long as this card remains face up on the field, your opponent cannot add Speed Counters through Speed World's effect.

Note: Gate Blocker was first used by Ushio in the anime episode "Pipe Dreams" All creative credit goes to the writers of that episode.

**Speed Spell – Rapid Wing Shot**  
**Type**: Spell  
**Image**: A bow and arrow with jet engines on the side.  
**Effect**: You can only activate this card if you have 5 or more Speed Counters. Select one monster on your side of the field. For this turn, the Selected monsters ATK is increased by the number of Speed Counters you have X 100.

Note: Speed Spell – Rapid Wing Shot was first used by Ushio in the anime episode "The Take Back part 2" All creative credit goes to the writers of that episode.

**Speed Spell – Count Up  
Type: **Spell  
**Image**: The Dashboard seen on Sector Security D-Runners  
**Effect**: Discard any number of cards in your hand to the grave. For each card discarded, increase your Speed Counters by 2.

Note: Speed Spell – Count up, as I have read, has to have 2 Speed Counters to all ready work, based on the anime. For this duel, and this duel alone, I have tweaked the effect to move the duel alone. You will not see me making the same changes in the future. It was also used by Ushio in a future Episode of 5D's.

**Doom Accelerator**  
**Type**: Trap  
**Image**: A duelist in an orange helmet on a D-Runner  
**Effect**: You can only activate this card when you receive battle damage from your opponent. The damage from this battle does not decrease your Speed Counters and adds 1 Speed Counter for each 500 Point intervals of Battle Damage you received.

**Speed Spell – Accelerator Draw  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: A duelist drawing a card, with a beam of light following his hand  
**Effect**: You can only activate this card if you have 12 or more Speed Counters. Draw 2 cards.

Note: Doom Accelerator and Speed Spell Accelerator Draw were first used by Mukuro Enjo in the anime episode "Surprise Surprise" All creative credit goes to the writers of that episode.

**Speed Spell – Power Baton  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: Swordstalker absorbing an unknown creature into his sword.  
**Effect**: You can only activate this card if you have 6 or More Speed Counters. Select one monster from your deck and send it to the graveyard. The ATK of one monster on your side of the field is increased by the ATK of the discarded monster via this cards effect. During your next turn, skip your draw phase.

Note: Speed Spell – Power Baton was first used by Kiryu in the anime episode "Dark Signs" all creative credit goes to the writers of that episode.

**Speed Spell – Creature Incarnate  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: The symbol from Monster Reincarnation in front of the burst of energy from Speed World  
**Effect**: You can only activate this card when you have 7 or more Speed Counters. Select one monster in your graveyard and add it to your hand. If you summon the monster this turn, you cannot attack next turn.

…

I'm not too pleased with this chapter. Future Speed Duels, I promise, they'll be better, still getting used to this whole Speed Dueling thing, besides, it seems rushed…I'll need to fix this.

Also, I'm going to put a hiatus on Dawning of the future FOR THE MOMENT, because I at least wanna get this story started. Don't worry, as my first saga, I refuse to forget about my original story, I just wanna get this one off it's feet.

Next time, Scraps turns out to be right on the location of Giovanni, but they need to get past his body guard first. Scraps duels for the first time against this icy creature, can Scrap's own deck fare against this deck of the bitter cold? Find out next time in "Junk Attack" coming soon!


	4. Junk Attack

Disclaimer: I do not own the Yu-Gi-Oh! Franchise, nor do I intend to make a profit from this fanfiction. The premise does not belong to me, merely the characters that happen to appear in it.

Also, little note for those of you worrying. Angua does not intend to use her Special Pursuit deck the entire story, she has her own special deck made, which she will be using more. She will merely use the Pursuit deck while she's on duty, but with Damian and the others, she will be using her own deck. So no worries, besides, it's a massive pain to write a Special Pursuit deck, let alone have a character use it a whole story…Also, her history has been changed, if you wish to go back and look it up.

…

The revving of the lone D-Wheel was the only thing heard on the otherwise quiet street as the approaching duo of Damian, currently behind the wheel of his D-Wheel, and on the side of it a little hook up side car that carried the currently disguised, and by disguised, he was wearing a trenchcoat that covered a good part of his body, a fedora over his head, and a long scarf wrapped around the lower half of his face.

See, Scraps, being a junk homunculus, couldn't exactly disguise himself like the other shadows could, so Damian and Jerian needed to disguise their friend in the heaviest clothing they could find, to hide any form of mechanical plating that other mundane would see. Scraps, currently holding onto his fedora with a gardening gloved hand as the wind whipped past them, looked to Damian. "Are you certain we aren't breaking any form of law, not going over the speeding limit?"

"Scraps," Damian said as calmly as he could, "I don't think breaking the speeding limit is the biggest of our worries, considering we may very well be closing in on a massive counterfeiting scheme, and we just really need to hope this guy is even in the general AREA as the docks."

Scraps nodded as finally, and rather suddenly, Damian screeched to a halt. They were at the docks. Damian stepped away from his D-Wheel, putting his helmet under his arm while Scraps, being as bulky as he was, had a bit of difficulty getting out of the otherwise smaller cart. Stumbling a little and catching himself, he walked up beside Damian and looked about. "Where do we begin, sir?"

"I guess we just check each of the buildings," Damian said with an unprofessional shrug.

"But wouldn't that take an excessive amount of time?" Scraps asked, "I mean, the perp himself would have ample time to make a run for it if we take the time to look through every—"

A small, jingle came from the direction of Damian's D-Wheel, and he rushed over to it. Pressing a button, Angua's face appeared on the screen. "What's up Angua?"

"Well, first of all, I wanna congratulate myself for once more doing a better job at your job than you do," Angua said with a smirk.

Damian merely rolled his eyes. "Whatever, lassie, come on, what did you find out?"

"Well, here's the thing. One, don't call me Lassie," She growled through the com link, before pulling out a good amount of paper. "But recently, I came across an interesting little tidbit; there's been some really interesting deliveries to one of the wharf warehouses."

She began to flip through the pages.

"Paper, ink, other little knick knacks…"

"Stuff that someone can use to make copies of cards?" Damian guessed.

"Bingo," she said with a nod. "And all the deliveries, despite this guy wanting to be as secret as possible, sure doesn't seem like a major manufacturer of the S.A.T's."

"We're on it," Damian said, "Any idea what Warehouse?"

"Warehouse Seven, on the other side of the wharf. You need to hurry, we don't know how much longer this guy is gonna be there!"

"On it," He shut the communications off and looked over at the still form of Scraps, who had taken to looking at the crashing waves of the ocean, "Scraps, let's go, we have a lead."

"Of course, sir," Scraps nodded as he walked up behind him. "Forgive me, sir, there's just something….mystical about the water."

"Heh," Damian chuckled a little bit. "Don't know if in this line of work, that's a good thing or a bad thing…"

The two of them quickly made it to the end Warehouse on the other end of the docks. Damian looked up at it, it was pretty decently sized, as they all were, but something Damian felt seemed off about it…

"This is it all right." He said after a moment, "it definitely feels suspicious."

"I will take your word for it, sir." He said with a nod. Grasping the door, he pushed it open slowly…

Damian gasped a little and wrapped his own arms around him tightly. His eyes widened behind his sunglasses, and he shivered.

"Damian?" Scraps asked, turning back to look at him. His optic sensors opened in shock, and he rushed over to his friend. "Damian, what happened? Why are you curled up like that?"

"C-Cold…" he gasped a little bit. His teeth chattered, and his breathing became labored. "It's really…r-really cold…"

Scrap's eyes narrowed a little bit, and looked around. Indeed, as he scanned the area. Indeed, as Damian said, the entire area was very cold, everything, from the wall to the boxes located at all points around the warehouse were covered in frost. Both walked in, the doors closing behind him. Scraps could have heard the cracking of something freezing over, but he was sure it was nothing, the place being as cold as it was.

Scraps didn't hesitate taking his heavy jacket off and wrapping it around Damian's shoulders. He looked around and looked to Damian, saying, "Damian, stay still, try to remain warm, I'm going to go look around. This possibly can't the place, why would Giovanni be in a meat packing plant…"

Scraps stomped off further into the Warehouse, leaving Damian behind, who curled up in the heavy trench coat Scraps left him, rubbing his body with his hands to keep some warmth going through his body.

He didn't notice the statue behind him, that camouflaged itself into the frost on the wall, move it's eyes to look at him.

Scraps grunted as he pushed aside a box that had been partially frozen to the ground and walked into the new area he made himself. Just an empty space, with some ice sculptures he was sure someone decided to store in here to preserve them.

He walked over to one and scraped a gloved finger against the frost which covered one of the sculptures and looked into it. Whoever did this was exceedingly detailed when it came to the art of sculpture, it almost as if…

Scraps backed away in horror as he saw an eye staring at him back, a bright blue one.

He got his composure back and walked back over to it. He pulled the glove off, and a fan appeared from the wrist. It blew the remaining frost off the other Sculptures, and Scrap's hand rose to his hand, a gesture he researched from humans as being one of "Shock".

There were people in the sculptures. From what Scraps could see, they gave off no vital signs. The humans in the ice were dead. He took a step back and felt a loud crunch over his massive weight. Turning around, he saw another terrifying sight; Whatever did this to the humans didn't stop at just freezing them.

There was another statue this time, and this time in pieces. What he had just crushed was the frozen, disembodied leg.

Something was seriously wrong here. He needed to get Damian out. NOW.

He rushed back to the entrance, and his eyes flared from green to red, a sign for him to show anger or concern.

One of the statues, that he had barely noticed when he walked in, was now approaching Damian from behind, calm and swiftly.

"HEY!" Scraps shouted to the approaching figure, pointing at the approaching figure. "Take a step away from the warm blooded sack of organs!"

"Stop c-c-calling me th-that." Damian shuddered hard from his stationary position.

The figure that was approaching Damian was behind turned to look at the new intruder, allowing Scraps to get a better view of him. He was a tall and muscular looking humanoid, a six pack and strong arms. Aside from that, he was wearing absolutely nothing, a naked human in the coldest place in LA he was willing to bet. It was then Scraps noticed that the man was made out of ice.

"An Elemental, hm?" Scraps pondered as his sensors focused on the icy creature. "I must say…I'm not surprised."

"Hm…" the Elemental said, his own dead, cold eyes narrowing at the direction of the heavily clothed human, "I'm surprised that you haven't succumb to my powers…"

"Let's just say I'm not like most humans," Scraps challenged.

"But I bet you bleed like other humans," The Elemental stated, and held up both hands. Grasping nothing but air, a pair of long, icy swords appeared in his grasp, formed from the sheer cold he gave off. He leapt into the air, higher than anyone Scraps had ever seen anyone jump into the air, and landed on the rafters.

When Scraps looked up to find him, he saw the Elemental leaping towards him, his blades crossed in front of his face.

Scraps crossed his arms as the as the swords came into contact with his arms, ripping his clothing in the process. The swords shattered against his bulky exterior.

The Elemental gasped in surprise, and kicked himself off of the robots chest, landing on his feet and holding the handles of brocken ice blades.

"So," The creature stated as if it were a fact, no surprise visible in its voice, "You are a homunculus. I suppose I should have expected so, for even the most well dressed foes became frozen when exposed to my power for too long."

"I should have known an Elemental was at fault here." Scraps said, his optic sensors narrowing, "Especially when I found all those poor humans in the back frozen like popsicles."

"Foolish humans who believed they could find my employer by defeating me." He said with a small shrug, "They did not make it past the first move."

"You're sick," Scraps spat out, "Killing innocent humans just to protect your own master."

"And you're far from one to talk." The Elemental stated, "But since I cannot simply force you to be quiet through sheer force and hope the blood freezes in your veins…"

"I challenge you to a duel!" Scraps shouted, pointing a thick finger at him, "As an unofficial member of the Shadowchasers, either duel me or come in quietly. Damian, you try to get out into the sun, warm up a little bit."

The Elemental's mouth curled into a smirk, and he gestured. Rather than forming a duel disk out of his arm, as per more of them did, a frozen duel disk, coated in a thick layer of ice flew into his hand. The Elemental forced it onto his arm, shattering the ice as he did so. "Good luck, human. when the doors closed, the lock was frozen. You two aren't going anywhere for a While.

"For the sake of the duel, I should mention." The Elemental stated, "You may call me Glacio."

"No, I believe I'll call you sick and leave it at that." Scraps said, holding out his left arm. The arm began to fold out, making a junky looking duel disk, with a deck of cards laying in the center of it.

**(Scraps: 8,000) - - - - - - - (Glacio: 8,000)**

"I shall make the first move. Draw!" Scraps drew his opening hand, in addition to an extra card for his turn. "And I shall summon to the field Maternal Junk in Attack mode."

A creature appeared in front of him, and it had a very motherly appearance to it. Wearing a long pink dress that hit her feet, holding a skillet in her hand, and wearing a tea pot for a helmet. But upon closer inspection, she was as her name suggested, made of junk and metal. (300/1,500)

"Then, I set one card facedown and end my turn."

A facedown card appeared behind Maternal Junk.

Glacio swiftly drew his hand and looked at it. "I summon Blizzard Warrior in Attack mode."

It was a monster that fit the name perfectly. A warrior, whose armor and weapon even, was made entirely out of ice. It held a twin bladed sword in its hand with a cape coming from it's back. (1,400/400)

"Your monster would have been a lot safer in defense mode, homunculus, and now your mistake shall suffer the consequences. Blizzard Warrior, attack Maternal Junk."

Blizzard Warrior rushed to the monster, his blade spinning in a small circle…

"You think I didn't put my monster in attack mode without any form of protection? I activate my trap card, Scrap-Iron Scarecrow!"

The trap card flipped up, and a scare crow, cobbled together out of junk flipped face up, in front of Maternal Junk. It took the attack head on, shuddered but amazingly enough, didn't break. Rather, it shuddered, and disappeared again.

"Now, I may negate your attack, and what's better, use it again in the future!"

"A mere set back." Glacio said with a growl, clutching a fist. "I shall end my turn."

"Draw!" Scraps drew his card. Seeing what it was, he added it to his hand and threw another one onto his disk. "I summon Paternal Junk to the field!"

This one seemed to be completely made out of junk, but had the slight appearance of a father from the 1950's. Cobbled together from junk and used robot bits, wearing a jacket, a metal tie and what could be a pair of glasses. (1,600/1,500)

"Since Maternal Junk is on the field, my Paternal Junk gains 500 Attack Points."

Maternal Junk began to glow, and Paternal Junk rose to 2,100.

"And since I now control a Paternal Junk on the field, Maternal Junk allows me to take one specific monster from my deck to my hand."

A card jut out of his deck, and Scraps grabbed it.

"Paternal Junk, attack Blizzard Warrior!"

Paternal Junk leapt into the air and aimed a kick at the warrior. It connected with chest, and exploded into pixels.

"Maternal Junk, your turn! Attack him directly!"

Maternal Junk cried out as she lifted the skillet over her head and rushed towards Glacio. A loud CLANG echoed through the warehouse, as the pan made contact with Glacio's face and made him reel backwards from the force of the blow.

**(Scraps: 8,000) - - - - - - - (Glacio: 7,000)**

"You…you shall pay for that." Glacio growled, sitting up, a rather impressive looking crack on his face from that attack.

"I believe…the human saying is "Send me the bill," now I shall set one additional card facedown and end my turn."

"Draw," Glacio snarled and drew his card. His eyes scanned over his cards, and he showed a new card. "I play one card facedown, and set one monster in defense mode."

The two cards appeared on the field.

"And that shall begin your demise, monster. I end my turn."

Scraps drew a card and looked at it, before setting another card on the disk. "I'll complete my little family by summoning the monster I got from Maternal Junk, Kid Junk!"

With a loud shout of excitement, the final Junk family member appeared. Half the size of Paternal Junk, he had yellow and green metal casing, wearing a red jacket, and a backwards hat. He grinned and stuck his tongue out at Glacio. (300/500)

Maternal Junk smiled a little bit and reached over, pinching Kid Junk's Cheek and making him blush, which was quite astounding, being made of metal and all. Escaping his mothers grasp, Paternal Junk reached down and ruffled the hat on his sons head affectionately. Kid Junk grinned and adjusted his hat again.

Glacio frowned, and Damian, still in the back covered in Scrap's coat, grinned. He loved watching the family show up…

"And for having his son on the field, Paternal Junk realizes he has more to protect, and gains a 1,000 Attack Point power boost."

Kid Junk began to glow, and Paternal Junk rose to 3,100.

"Then I play Secret Pass to the Treasure, which lets one monster on my side of the field with 1,000 or less Attack points attack directly. I'll let Kid Junk have a crack at you, so Maternal Junk can get some rest."

Kid Junk grinned and rushed off, jumping into the air with his foot extended. Glacio grimaced as the attack connected with his stomach, and made him take a step back.

**(Scraps: 8,000) - - - - - - - (Glacio: 6,700)**

"Paternal Junk, take care of that defense monster!"

Paternal Junk aimed a punch in the direction of the defense position monster…

A young woman appeared on the card, kneeling down. She was wearing armor like That of a fish or other sort of undersea animal, with a bag on her side. A protective barrier knocked the attack away. (800/800)

"But…my monster was more than three times stronger than yours! How did she survive?!"

"My Ice Blaster User Rice is a monster that's not so easy to destroy. She can't be destroyed in battle by monsters with four or more stars."

"I see," Scraps said, looking at his own hand. "I suppose that shall end my turn."

"Draw." Glacio drew his card and looked at it. He flipped it around and showed it to scraps. "I'll summon to the field Acolyte of Ice Barrier."

A blonde man appeared in front of Glacio, with white fur armor, sitting down in a silent prayer. (1,500/1,000)

"And an interesting thing about Ice Blast User Rice is she's a tuner monster."

Scrap's optic sensors widened in worry. Six stars? This could only mean one thing…

"Synchro Summon!" Glacio announced, his cold, stoic voice echoing around the ware house, "Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier!"

The two monsters exploded into six stars, and said stars reformed into a single being, a giant serpentine dragon, made entirely out of ice. It roared a roar that made the air in the warehouse drop another ten degrees. (2,300/1,400)

"Then, I shall play my monsters effect." Glacio plucked three cards from his hand. "And I shall use his effect to return your Maternal Junk, Kid Junk and your facedown Scrap-Iron Scarecrow back to your hand, meaning I won't have anything to worry about."

Brionac roared loudly as a gusting wind blew across Scrap's field. Maternal Junk screamed as she was blown off the field, as did Kid Junk, though he did attempt to battle the winds valiantly. Scrap's Scrap Iron Scarecrow vanished, all of them reappearing in his hand.

Paternal Junk looked around in worry as to where his wife and child went, and fell back to 1,600.

"Brionac, Attack his Paternal Junk, and get it out of my face." He said, pointing forward.

Brionac shrieked and released a burst of cold wind at the machine. He froze over in a matter of seconds, and exploded into pixels.

**(Scraps: 7,300) - - - - - - - (Glacio: 6,700)**

"I play my trap card," Scraps exclaimed, his facedown flipping face up, "Junk Spirits. Since you just destroyed a monster on my side of the field with Junk in its name, I'm allowed to Special Summon during the End Phase."

Glacio scowled and looked at his hand. Nothing to work with.

"I'll just end my turn, so go on then, bring back your Junk monster, nothing you can do is going to make a difference."

Paternal Junk rose from the ground. (1,600/1,400)

"Draw!" Scraps shouted, drawing his card and looked at it. His Field Spell slot opened up, and he slid a card into it, "I take us to the Junk Factory!"

The area around the two of them began to shake and rumble around the two of them, and suddenly, the three of them were surrounded by a large factory, which seemed to be carting junk back and forth.

"In this area, all of my Junk Monsters gain an additional 500 Attack Points, plus an additional bonus when they destroy a monster in battle!"

Paternal Junk flexed his muscles, somehow, and rose to 2,100.

"Then, I summon Kid Junk once again!"

With a small, cute cry towards battle, the Kid Junk rose again, throwing a kick and grinning at his father. (300/500) --- (800/500)

"And since his son is back on the field, Paternal Junk regains his 1,000 Attack Point Bonus."

Paternal Junk began to glow once again. (2,100/1,400) --- (3,100/1,400)

"Now Paternal Junk, attack Brionac with Junk Slammer!"

Paternal Junk's began to glow a bright red and he rushed over to the giant sea serpent, his fist raised high. He threw the said punch, and it crashed into Brionac's skull.

Nothing seemed to happen at first, until finally cracks began to spider web across the impressive sea serpents body. With a shuddering rumble, the creature fell into literal pieces onto the ground.

"And like I said, another interesting thing happens when a Junk monster destroys a monster as a result of battle. The card is now returned to the deck, which makes it a lot harder to reach!"

A large crane that was positioned over the duel the entire time reached down and began to pick up the giant chunks of Brionac's body and carted them away off into the shadows of the factory.

"I may be a Junk Homunculous my friend," Scraps began, "But I do happen to know a thing or two about the game. I could never let you have a monster that powerful in your graveyard, there's a limitless number of cards that could bring him back! So, if I return him to the Extra Deck, he's still accessible, but you need to pay two monsters minimum to get him back!"

Damian grinned a little bit. _Heh…you're getting better at this, Scraps…_ he suddenly began to shudder hard, clutching the trench coat closer to his body. His vision was starting to get fuzzy at this point. _But you need to hurry, otherwise I'm gonna end up a popsicle before you finish him!_

"Kid Junk, join your father and strike him down!"

Kid Junk jumped into the air excitedly and rushed to Glacio, leaping into the air and delivering another hard kick to the Ice Elemental's face. Glacio took another step back from shock.

**(Scraps: 7,300) - - - - - - - - (Glacio: 5,100)**

"You're digging your own grave, monster…' Glacio growled.

Scraps tilted his head in curiosity. "That's quite impossible, my friend, for as a Junk Homunculous, I have no need for such a grave, and even then it would be impossible for me to dig a grave, as we're in the middle of a duel, it seems…"

Damian couldn't help a little laugh at that one.

"I'll set these two cards facedown and end my turn." Two cards appeared behind the father and son team.

"Which I'm sure is no doubt Scrap Iron Scare-Crow." Glacio stated as he drew a card. "And it's nothing I can't handle. First of all, I Special Summon to the field Medium of the Ice Barrier."

With another cold wind blowing past, a young woman appeared, with extremely long green hair a flowing, blue dress. Her eyes were closed and her hands were brought together in a prayer. (2,200/1,700)

"How did you summon her?" Scraps optic sensors changed to yellow, which was his sign of warning, "She's a level seven monster!"

"I can only Special Summon my Medium if you have four more cards than I do, and it would seem as though you do. I normal Summon Bushi of the Ice Barrier."

A samurai appeared in beside the Medium, but like his accomplices, his armor seemed to be made of ice. (1,800/1,500)

"Bushi, attack Kid Junk."

The Samurai rushed in, blade held high in the air. Much to Glacios surprise, Scrap Iron Scarecrow didn't activate. The sword sliced through Kid Junk, and his echoing scream made Paternal Junk look horrified somehow.

**(Scraps: 6,300) - - - - - - - (Glacio: 5,100)**

"You didn't activate your trap?" Glacio asked.

"I want to think of it like this," Scraps began, "if I had activated Scrap Iron Scarecrow prematurely against your samurai, you would have attacked with your Medium, and that would have meant I would lose more life points. By saving my trap, I've ensured that I only lost a few less life points, but also I'll be able to save my Paternal Junk, who is the only one who can possibly defeat your monsters in my current state."

Glacio's eyes narrowed. "So you're very clever, it seems," the Elemental hummed, "I'll need to remember that when I make a plaque to describe you, when you're frozen over forever more."

"Just end your turn, so I can avenge Paternal Junk's child!" Scraps shouted.

Glacio couldn't help but smirk at that. "Touchy, touchy." He said. "I suppose I'll end my turn, so you best pick who you destroy your turn even if you summon your Maternal Junk. If you destroy Medium, I'll have Bushi, whose Level Four and completely capable of being tuned back into Brionac. If you destroy Bushi, I'll still have Medium, who can easily take out anything you summon…"

"You'd think that," Scraps drew a card. "But guess again, because I have a hero amongst this family! I summon Junk Blader!"

One who didn't look like a Junk Monster appeared in front of Scraps. He had a purple cape and purple armor, it's armor heavy looking and still junky. It held a large red blade, which it looked to carrying proudly. (1,800/1,000) --- (2,300/1,000)

Glacio's eyes widened in surprise.

"Not only does he gain the power Junk Factory gives him, but he gains 400 Attack Points if there's a Junk monster in my graveyard, and you happened to send one there."

Kid Junk's spirit appeared behind Junk Blader, and before he vanished, he smiled at his father and gave him a thumbs up. Junk Bladers attack rose to 2,700.

"Junk Blader, attack his Medium with Scrap Slice!"

Junk Blader obviously didn't have the clunkiness of the other Junk monsters, as he rushed forward with ease and fluidity, and came down hard, slicing Medium in half. She shrieked in pain, and exploded into pixels.

"Now Paternal Junk, avenge your son and destroy Bushi!"

Paternal Junk rushed forward and threw a punch, clocking Paternal Junk in the face and sending him flying into the crane. It carried him off into the shadows, back to Glacio's deck.

**(Scraps: 6,300) - - - - - - - (Glacio: 4,300)**

"I end my turn." Scraps said.

Glacio snatched a card off his deck and slid it into the disk. "I set one monster in defense mode, but he's not going to stay that way. I play the Spell card, Book of Taiyou."

A large golden book appeared above the defense monster.

"This allows me to automatically flip him face up and allows me to activate his effect, and I'm sure it's a card even you recognize."

Morphing Jar appeared on the card, and it giggled loudly.

Scraps narrowed his eyes as he and Glacio ditched the cards in their hand and drew a whole new hand.

"Now, I'll play the trap card I set a few turns ago," Glacio said, "Ultimate Offering. It may cost me 500 Life Points per summoning, but it seems to be worth it. I'll pay 1,000 Life Points and Normal Summon these two cards, Water Reflection of the Ice Barrier, and Practitioner of the Ice Barrier."

Two water geysers erupted from the ground and in their place, two cards appeared in front of him. One of them was a man with short blonde hair, wearing what appeared to be a skin tight body suit, holding and wielding two ninja stars which happened to look like extremely sharp snow flakes. (1,200/0)

The other one seemed to be another ninja variety, with a cap that hid his hair and a cold look in his eyes. IN his hand was a blade made out of snow. (1,300/0)

"Now here's how my monsters work," Glacio said, "As long as my Water Reflection is on the field, if I control nothing but level two monsters, he can attack you directly. And with my Practitioner, if I control another ice Barrier monster on the field, he acts as a monster version of Gravity Bind, meaning all monsters, outside of my Ice Barrier monsters, with a level of four or higher cannot attack."

"You still have to get through my Scrap Iron Scarecrow," Scraps said.

Glacio played another card, and Mystical Space Typhoon appeared on the field.

"Touché."

The Typhoon ripped across the field, and hit his facedown card. It exploded into pixels.

"Water Reflection, attack him directly, make him suffer!"

Water Reflection disappeared rather swiftly, and reappeared in front of Scraps. He threw a few kicks and a few punches, enough to make him take a few sudden steps back, and when Scraps looked down, he had a good half dozen snow flake shurikens in his chest.

"How does that feel, beast?" Glacio asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Honestly?" Scraps asked as he seemingly brushed the blades out of his metal chest, much to Glacio's chargin. "I've felt worse."

**(Scraps: 5,100) - - - - - - - (Glacio: 3,300)**

"If you're just about done," Scraps stated, "I'll be taking my turn then." He drew a card and looked at it. His eyes changed form yellow to green, meaning no warning has been detected. "I play the spell card, Junk Splash. You get hit 500 Points of damage for every Junk monster on my side of the field."

Glacio howled as what appeared to be bolts flew from the two monsters and crashed into the Ice Elemental, sending him reeling.

**(Scraps: 5,100) - - - - - - - Glacio: 2,300)**

"While I may not be able to do MUCH damage otherwise, I can still hurt you, so it seems." Scraps chuckled. "I'll set one additional card facedown, and end my turn."

"Draw!" Glacio shouted, drawing a card and looked at it. A smirk crossed the Elementals face, and a card appeared on the field. "I play Messenger of Peace."

The Spell appeared on the field, and the pious man appeared, his hands held up as if to say stop

"Huh?" Scrap asked, his sensors closing and opening again a moment later. "You all ready have a stall card out…why would you need more?"

"Heh, let's just say that it's more than a Stall card, and more of the ultimate combination. First, I'll summon to the field Intoxicated Bug of the Ice Barrier."

A blue and Green insect, with studded spikes and see through skin appeared. From it's mouth, a large icicle was sticking from it's mouth. (1,300/1,800)

"And now, I'll tune together my Bug and my Water Reflection to summon one of the best monsters in my deck to the field!"

The Water Reflection grabbed the bug, none too calmly, though, and leapt into the air. They exploded into six stars, which began to form into another form ever so slowly…

Much to Scraps surprise, it wasn't the icy sea serpent he was sure was about to reappear. Rather, it was a blue furred tiger, with ornate armor on its shoulders and ankles. Spikes made out of very sharp ice were jutting out of his armor. The tiger bared his teeth and let loose an ear shattering roar. (2,000/1,400)

Scraps eyes turned yellow, and he narrowed them a little bit. "I have a feeling that thing has an impressive effect…"

"You haven't a clue." Glacio smirked. "My Dewloren, Tiger Prince of the Ice Barrier has an impressive effect. But first, I shall dispel this horrible area, and instead cast us to the area known as Umiiruka."

The large junk factory began to crumble, and instead was replaced with a massive ocean.

"This area gives my water beasts even further strength, but also weakens yours, since your field is now clear of the Junk Factory."

Dewloren roared louder and his stats changed to 2,500/1,000, while Paternal Junk fell to 1,600, and Junk Blader fell to 2,200.

"But now my monsters effect shall activate. And it allows me to return any number of face up cards I wish to my hand, giving my Tiger Prince a five hundred attack boost for everyone I return."

Practitioner, Morphing Jar, Umiiruka, and Messenger of Peace vanished, and four cards appeared in Glacio's hand. Dewloren roared even louder, and it's attack rose even further to 4,000.

"End that Paternal Junk's life! Crashing pounce!"

Dewloren roared and rushed forward, kicking up snow in it's wake. It leapt into the air and tackled Paternal Junk, using it's teeth and claws to rip up the elder junk's chest.

Scraps needed to look away, lest his eyes go red and he do something he regret.

**(Scraps: 2,700) - - - - - - - (Glacio: 2,300)**

"There's a reason I kept my Ultimate Offering trap on the field," Glacio said as Dewloren padded its way back to his side of the field. "To pay 500 Life Points in order to set one additional monster facedown in defense mode. Then, I shall play Umiiruka again, and my Messenger of Peace."

The ocean appeared around the duelists, Dewlorens stats changed to 2,500/1,000 again, and the preist appeared behind him, holding his hand out.

"Do you not see my ultimate combo?" Glacio asked, tilting his head. "You cannot touch my monsters. As long as I have cards on my field to return, my monster will be almost unstoppable. My Umiiruka will be returned to my hand, as will my Messenger of peace and my Morphing Jar. In other words, if I don't like the cards in my hand, I can very well keep using Morphing Jar to my Benefit and get a full hand. Once I get Brionac to the field again…" A devious, icy grin crossed the Elemental Bodyguards lips.

Scraps closed his eyes and drew a card. _He's right, if I don't get what I need, I'm going to be in some form of trouble…let this be something I can use, whoever may be out there._

He looked at the new card in his hand, and showed it. "I play the Spell card, Monster Reborn, allowing me to bring back my Paternal Junk!"

Paternal Junk appeared on the field again, glaring daggers at the icy tiger. (1,600/1,400)

"And then I play the Spell card, Family Ties," The Spell appeared on the field. "Since I have Paternal Junk on the field, I can summon to the field Maternal Junk and Kid Junk from the graveyard by paying 2,000 Life Points."

Maternal Junk and Kid Junk appeared on the field again, running up to Paternal Junk and wrapping their arms around him tightly. Paternal Junk rose to 3,100 Attack points.

"But sadly, the family Reunion is going to be short lived because I'm sacrificing Paternal Junk and Junk Blader to summon MY Best card!"

Paternal Junk gave his wife and son one final hug before he and his partner, Junk Blader, began to vanish into sparkling motes of light. In their new place appeared something…powerful.

It seemed to be a suit of armor, made entirely of junk and garbage. It didn't look like there was anyone in the suit of armor, though. In one hand, he held a shield which seemed to be made out of the hood of a car, reinforced with steel and spikes, and a sword/lance that seemed to be made from a broken stop sign. It began to glow, and held the sword up, a feeling of power coming from it. (2,800/2,200)

"That's…impressive…" Glacio said. "it may very well beat Dewloren, but it cannot penetrate my Messenger of Peace combo."

"No, but before I do break your combo, let me explain Junk Legend's effect," Scraps explained, "He can only be summoned by tributing two Junk Monsters. But, as a result, my monster gain one of those monsters Name and effect. So I'll treat him as Paternal Junk and give him the same effect!"

Paternal Junk appeared in the suit of armor, looking a little bit more regal and intimidating as a result. If she could, Maternal Junk would have blushed right then and there, and Kid Junk looked up at his father, a look of awe in his otherwise shiny eyes.

"And since Maternal Junk and Kid Junk are on the field…

Junk Legend began to glow, and rose to 4,300 Attack points.

"And now I'll use his effect. By discarding one card in my hand to the graveyard…"

He discarded a Giant Rat from his hand.

"One Spell or trap on your side of the field is destroyed."

Glacio gasped as Messenger of Peace exploded.

"I'll still have Life Points!" Glacio exclaimed. "And I'll just summon Brionac and clear your field! You'll never beat me or get to my employer!"

"I'll still defeat you," Scraps said, his eyes flashing from yellow to green, by equipping Junk Legend with Junk Barrage!"

The equip spell appeared on the field, and Junk Legend began to glow.

"Junk Legend, destroy the Prince Tiger and show him what real royalty is!"

Junk Legend rushed forward, his blade held high. When he got within striking distance, he drove his sword into the tigers skull. Its eyes went misty, unfocused, and finally exploded into pixels.

"And since my monster destroyed yours while equipped with Junk Barrage, you're dealt damage equal to your monsters Attack Points."

Junk Legend held up a fist and slammed it into Glacio. The Elemental screamed and flew backwards, hitting the back of the warehouse, the ocean vanishing. He slammed into it, and fell over, apparently unconscious.

Scraps' monster began to vanish, and he took note of the temperature in the area. "Temperature rising…slowly climbing up…" his sensors widened. "Damian!"

He rushed over to his still frozen partner, and helped him up. "Damian, are you okay? You're not dead, are you?"

His sensors scanned over to him.

"You have a pulse…and you're breathing, based on my heat sensors, is still coming out…"

"I'm-I'm fine, Scraps," Damian shuddered, clutching the trench coat closer to him. "Just, just give me a second to get myself back together…"

"Very well." The homunculus nodded. "I assume that since the elemental-"

"Paraelemental," Damian corrected, "He was Paraelemental. As far as Shadowchaser records go, the Elementals go as Earth, air, water and fire. An Ice Elemental is a combination of air and water, also known as a paraelemental."

"Right," Scraps added the little tidbit to his memory, "But I assume since he's no longer conscious, his hold on the temperature of the warehouse is stopped. He's not going to be out long, so we need to get Giovanni while he's here."

"How do you know he's here?" Damian asked, still shivering a little bit.

"Giovanni wouldln't leave his place unattended. He obviously had Glacio guarding the real entrance to where he's being holed up. I'd bet anything if we kept going, we'd find Giovanni."

"Good," Damian shuddered a little bit. "I'm fine, Scraps, let's keep going, we need to find this guy now."

…

The sound of heavy machinery was filling the otherwise dark and empty room. A man was currently near the machine, wringing his hands, not in anticipation, but rather out of…worry?

He had a shaggy looking haircut, and looked a little bit thin and sickly. He was extremely pale, with twitchy looking watery eyes. Wearing a white two piece suit, bouncing on his heels.

"Come on, come on…" the man mumbled a little, looking back and forth in worry. "They're gonna be here any second…you stupid machine, come on! Move it!"

Finally, a card came from the machine, a single card and he signed in reliefe. "Okay, good, let's go." He grabbed the card, and spun around…

Just in time to see a metal fist belonging to Scraps crashing into his cheek. The punch sent the skinny man flying over to the side, crashing to the side. The card he was waiting for flew from his hand slid across the field. He reached up and tried to grab at it, before Scraps foot slammed down on the man, making him scream and pin him to the ground.

"Giovanni Williams, I understand?" Damian asked, walking up behind the sickly looking man. "I believe you've been doing some illegal things here."

"Get him off me!" Giovanni snarled, his eyes flaring in anger. "I need to get out of here! They're coming!"

"Yeah, I know," Damian said, frowning at the mans attitude. "We're all ready here."

"Not you!" Giovanni screeched. "Someone else…someone…horrible…" he gulped worriedly, his eyes widening.

"Sorry buddy, but whoever's coming can wait, you're coming with me," Damian nodded to Scraps, who took his foot off of him.

Giovanni, sensing the preassure had been taken off of him, snarled and jumped off the ground, scampering away from the two of them, panting heavily. "Get away from me, you're not taking me in alive!" he shouted.

"Oh yes you are!" Damian shouted, standing up and glaring at the man, taking his sunglasses off and putting them on the front of his shirt. "You're coming in with me, or my name isn't Damian Ogitaka!"

Giovanni's eyes widened into small saucers, and suddenly a grin spread across his lips.

"YOU'RE….Damian?" he asked. "This is great! This is absolutely fantastic!" He cackled maniacally, and rushed over, grasping at a duel disk that had been placed on the wall, like a trophy. A deck was sitting beside it, and he placed them both onto his wrist. "If I take you in, maybe he won't be so mad with me! Maybe I can even get off scot free, and he'll cancel any debts I have!"

"It seems as if this man is a few candies short of a piñata, Damian," Scraps whispered.

"Out of all the things you've said, that's the best one to describe someone," Damian whispered in return. "And just who is this guy you're supposed to be meeting tonight?" Damian asked.

Giovanni gave a very toothy grin, and wagged a finger at him. "Ah, ah, ah!" he laughed. "No secrets until after the duel, my dark little friend! But let's just say…" The Duel disk activated. "This guys been DYING to meet you…"

Damian narrowed his eyes dangerously, and threw his own disk into position.

"LET'S DUEL!" Both screamed.

…

**Paternal Junk**  
**Type**: Machine/Effect/Earth  
**Attack/Defense**: 1,600/1,400  
**Stars**: 4  
**Effect**: If you control a face up "Maternal Junk", this card gains 500 ATK. If you control a face up "Kid Junk", this card gains 1000 ATK

**Maternal Junk  
Type**: Machine/Effect/Earth  
**Attack/Defense**: 300/1,500  
**Stars**: 4  
**Effect**: If you control a face up "Paternal Junk", you can add one "Kid Junk" from your graveyard or deck to your hand.

**Kid Junk  
Type**: Machine/Effect/Earth  
**Attack/Defense**: 300/500  
**Stars**: 1  
**Flavor Text**: _"When I grow up, I wanna be just like my dad!_"

**Junk Spirits  
Type**: Trap  
**Image**: A hand made of junk bursting from the ground.  
**Effect**: You can only activate this card when a "Junk" monster on your side of the field is destroyed as a result of battle and sent to the graveyard. During your End Phase, Special Summon that monster to your side of the field.

**Junk Factory  
Type**: Field/Spell  
**Image**: A massive factory, with piles and piles of Garbage and Junk surrounding it.  
**Effect**: Increase the ATK of all "Junk" monsters on the field by 500. When a "Junk" monster destroys an opponent's monster by battle, you may return that monster to the owner's deck.

_Note: The above cards were first used by Tetsuzoa Kuzuyama in the second season of Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's. All creative credit goes to the writers of that episode._

**Junk Blader  
Type**: Warrior/Effect/Earth  
**Attack/Defense**: 1,800/1,000  
**Stars**: 4  
**Effect**: This card gains 400 ATK if there is a "Junk" monster in your graveyard.

**Junk Splash  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: Junk Synchron glowing while a barrage of nails and screws slams into a duelist  
**Effect**: Deal 500 Points of damage to your opponent for each face up "Junk" monster on your side of the field.

_Note: Junk Blader and Junk Splash were first used by Yusei in the Yugioh 5D's manga. Junk Blader is becoming a real card, though._

**Blizzard Warrior  
Type**: Warrior/Effect/Water  
**Attack/Defense**: 1,400/400  
**Stars**: 3  
**Effect**: When this card destroys an opponents monster as a result of battle, look at the top card of your opponents deck, then return it to either the top or bottom of their deck.

**Ice Blast User Rice  
Type**: Sea-Serpent/Tuner/Effect  
**Attack/Defense**: 800/800  
**Stars**: 2  
**Effect**: This card cannot be destroyed by battle by a Level 4 or higher monster.

**Acolyte of the Ice Barrier  
Type**: Warrior/Effect/Water  
**Attack/Defense**: 1,500/1,000  
**Stars**: 4  
**Effect**: This card cannot be destroyed by battle by a monster with 1,900 or more ATK.

**Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier  
Type**: Sea-Serpent/Synchro/Effect  
**Attack/Defense**: 2,300/1,400  
**Stars**: 6  
**Effect**: 1 Tuner + 1 or more non-tuners  
You can discard any number of cards to return the same amount of cards from the field to the owners hand.

**Medium of the Ice Barrier  
Type**: Spellcaster/Effect/Water  
**Attack/Defense**: 2,200/1,600  
**Stars**: 7  
**Effect**: If your opponent controls 4 or more cards than you do, Special Summon this card from your hand. Your opponent can only activate one Spell or Trap card per turn.

**Bushi of the Ice Barrier  
Type**: Warrior/Effect/Water  
**Attack/Defense**: 1,800/1,500  
**Stars**: 4  
**Effect**: When this card on the field is changed from face up Attack Position to face up defense position, destroy it and draw 1 card.

**Water Reflection of the Ice Barrier  
Type**: Aqua/Tuner/Water  
**Attack/Defense**: 1,200/0  
**Stars**: 2  
**Effect**: If the only face up monsters you control are Level 2 or lower monsters, this card can attack your opponent directly.

**Practitioner of the Ice Barrier  
Type**: Aqua/Tuner/Water  
**Attack/Defense**: 1,300/0  
**Stars**: 2  
**Effect**: While you control "Ice Barrier" monsters other than this card, Level 4 or higher monsters cannot attack.

**Intoxicated Bug of the Ice Barrier  
Type**: Insect/Effect/Water  
**Attack/Defense**: 1,300/1,800  
**Stars**: 4  
**Effect**: When this card is Normal Summoned, Select one unoccupied Monster Zone. The Selected Zone cannot be used as long as this card remains face up on the field.

**Dewloren, Tiger Prince of the Ice Barrier  
Type**: Beast/Synchro/Effect  
**Attack/Defense**: 2,000/1,400  
**Stars**: 6  
**Effect**: Once per turn, you can return any number of face up cards you control to the owners hand. This card gains 500 ATK for every card returned this way.

Note: All the Ice Barrier cards are apart of the Duel Terminals and a few are coming to America in November.

**Junk Legend  
Type**: Machine/Effect/Earth  
**Attack/Defense**: 2,800/2,200  
**Stars**: 8  
**Effect**: This card can only be Normal Summoned by sacrificing two "Junk" monsters. This cards name and effect become that of one of the sacrificed monsters. Once per turn, discard one card from your hand to destroy one face up Spell or Trap on your opponents side of the field. As long as this card remains face up on the field, your opponent cannot select another "Junk" monster as an attack Target.

Note: Junk Legend was created by Metal Overlord 2.0 and slightly altered by me. All creative credit goes to him.

**Family Ties  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: Paternal Junk grabing Maternal Junk's hand and pulls her out of grave, with Kid Junk clinging to his mothers foot.  
**Effect**: You can only activate this card when you control a face up "Paternal Junk". Pay 2,000 Life Points. Special Summon one "Maternal Junk" and one "Kid Junk" from your graveyard in face up defense position.

…

Before we ask, no, Scraps does not have Junk Synchron, Warrior, or Archer. That will be explained later on, as it's part of the main storyline.

And so the Arc begins to come to a close, and Damian finally catches up to Giovanni. Next time, the two of them duel, and Damian needs to be careful, since Giovanni could literally have any card he wants in the deck, and whose this employer that's got him so worried…? Find out next time in "Allure of Darkness" as Damian faces off against one of the most feared monsters in the game, coming soon!


	5. Allure of Darkness

Disclaimer: I do not own the Yu-Gi-Oh! Franchise, nor do I intend to make a profit from this fanfiction. The premise does not belong to me, merely the characters that happen to appear in it.

…

The air was thick between the two duelists, Damian on one side with Scraps standing off to the side.

On the other was Giovanni, the mad man behind the fake counterfeit cards, who had been going off on a tangent about someone, somewhere, who wanted to see Damian again.

The mere thought of it sent a shiver down his spine.

"Come with us, and we don't even have to do this," Damian said as calmly as he could without thinking of the haunting words the psycho path had told him moments before activating their duel disk, "We don't need to do this."

"Oh, but we do," Giovanni said with a psychotic gleam in his eyes, his teeth white and like small mirrors gleaming in the seemingly moving dark shadows of the otherwise uninhabited room. "See, I get you, my boss won't be so mad, my boss ain't so mad, and I can keep going and he can cancel all my debts I own him and everyone else! I can actually stop working for this psycho!"

Giovanni gestured to the front of his deck, and the top card shot out, flying into his hand. He looked at it, and grinned.

"I'll play the spell card, Star Blast. By paying Life Points in intervals of 500, I can reduce the Attack of one monster in my hand by the same amount. So I'll pay a mere 500 Life Points to make a Level five monster in my hand into a Level four monster."

**(Damian: 8,000) - - - - - - - (Giovanni: 7,500)**

"And since he's a lot easier to summon at this point, I'll summon her to the field, Airknight Parshath!"

A loud, neighing battle cry was heard. A centurion like creature, with glowing blue and golden armor, a large shield in her left hand, and a sword in the other. (1,900/1,400)

_This guy isn't playing around. _Damian thought, eyeing the angelic being, _Airknight Parshath isn't the most common card around…oh, what am I saying? I wouldn't be surprised if ALL the cards in his deck were handmade._

"I believe that's gonna end my turn…" Giovanni said, sliding his hand into his front pocket.

Damian narrowed his eyes hard, and drew his card quickly, adding it to his hand. "I'll set one monster in defense mode…" A defense position monster appeared in front of him. "And for added defense, I'll discard the monster I just drew, Mefist the Infernal General, and Special Summon Dark Grepher in Attack mode."

He discarded the aforementioned monster, and the dark form of the warrior appeared, hefting his sword up. (1,700/1,600)

"And I'll use his effect to discard Dark Horus to the grave, and send my Obsidian Dragon to the grave to accompany it."

He discarded the two cards to his graveyard.

"Then, I'll end my turn by setting these two cards facedown."

His hand shrunk down to nothingness as the final two cards vanished, appearing in front of him.

Giovanni drew a card and pointed to the Dark Grepher. "Airknight Parshath, Attack Dark Grepher with heavily smite!"

Before the centaur could even move from the spot, Damian pointed to his facedown card. "I play my facedown card, Dark Spirit Art – Greed. Now I can offer my Grepher as a tribute and draw two cards. However, if you want, you can show a Spell card from your hand to negate it."

Giovanni immediately plucked a card from his hand and showed it. It was the spell card Arms Hole.

Damian sighed as his trap card flickered and shattered, Grepher disappearing a moment later.

"Well, that triggers a replay so I'll attack your defense position monster instead!" Giovanni exclaimed.

Airknight neighed again, which was getting admittedly getting creepy and galloped forward towards the monster. The defense position monster flipped up, revealing itself to be a large middle, studded with black thorns and a thick, clawed stand. It shattered into pixels and pieces of glasses.

"And even in defense, my monster deals damage to you even through defense!"

Damian winced hard, and groaned. "That's…fine. You destroyed my Abyss Mirror, which when destroyed, I can Special Summon one Dark Attribute monster from my deck, so long as it has the same Attack, Defense, Level, and type as a monster on your side of the field, and I'll summon my copy of Darknight Parshath!"

With a demonic growl, an exact copy of the Airknight Parshath from across the field appeared in front of Damian, her own armor black and gold with a black blade and gold shield. (1,900/1,400)

"And she's even stronger than yours is, because she gains 100 Attack points for every Dark monster in my graveyard, and since you were so kind, that's 500 More Attack Points!"

(2,400/1,400)

Giovanni scowled, and held a hand in front of his disk. "Since I dealt damage to your life points, I can draw a card."

A card shot out of his disk, and he grabbed at it.

"For added defense, I'll set one card facedown and end my turn." He stated, a facedown card appearing behind the monster.

"Draw!" Damian shouted, looking at the lone card in his hand. He pointed to the defense position monster in question. "Darknight Parshath, attack his Airknight Parshath, show him who the real threat is!"

The Darknight monster rushed forward and swiped her massive sword, slicing Airknight Parshath into pixels.

**(Damian: 6,100) - - - - - - - (Giovanni: 7,000)**

"Since I destroyed your monster as a result of battle, I'll remove a Dark monster in my graveyard from play, which lets me draw a card."

Dark Horus slipped out of his graveyard, and he drew a card. Taking note of it, he pointed to his remaining facedown card.

"Now I play my facedown, Return from the Dark Dimension, which Special Summons a Removed from play Dark monster to the field."

With a loud roar, the dark form of Horus appeared. (3,000/1,800)

"Dark Horus, attack him directly!"

Dark Horus inhaled deeply and fired a blast of fire at the thief himself.

"Activate trap!" Giovanni shouted as his trap card in question flipped up, "Negate Attack, negating your attack and ending your battle phase."

The attack fizzled out before it could reach the intended target.

Damian looked at the two cards in his hand. Neither of which would be of any help at this point.

"I end my turn."

Giovanni drew a card and showed it immediately, "I play Mystical Space Typhoon, to destroy your Return from the Dark Dimension and get rid of that giant eyesore!"

Before shattering into pixels, Horus let out a loud shriek, began to glow with a dark, fiery fury.

"Since you played a Spell card on your turn, I can use Horus' effect and bring out a Level Four or lower Dark monster from my grave to the field, and I'll summon my Dark Grepher."

Dark Grepher appeared beside the massive dragon before the latter exploded. (1,700/1,600)

"Like it's going to matter." Giovanni said. "Because this turn I'm going to put some hurt on you. I play Soul Exchange to get rid of your Grepher, and in exchange, summon to the field Tongue Twister!"

Dark Grepher gasped as a misty form enveloped his body, and he disappeared from site. On Giovanni's side of the field, a rather hideous looking creature appeared, twisted in the middle with a three pronged claw was…a tongue, with a single, glaring eye and a pair of sharp teeth. (400/300)

Damian recoiled in shock and disgust, his mouth a sneer in the later emotion. "Oh god, that is HIDEOUS."

"Yes, but it's a useful little bugger," Giovanni stated. "For example, I'll set this card facedown, and end my turn."

Damian drew his card quickly, looking at the three cards in his hand…

His eyes widened as Giovanni's face down card flipped up, and he just HAD to ask "Is that…"

"One of the most dreaded traps in the game, yes! Feel the wrath of the Crush Card Virus!"

The tongue creature exploded into pixels, and a cloud of purple toxins sifted from the remains and to the field. Darknight Parshath gasped and clutched her throat before disappearing in the midst of the poison.

The spores hit Damian's hand, and images of Darklord Zerato and Dark Valkyria appeared behind him. Screaming, they also shattered, leaving Damian with a single card in his hand.

"You bastard!" Damian exclaimed, "How are you getting these cards to work?! These have been banned for a while! Your disk shouldn't even be able to PLAY a banned card like that!"

Giovanni grinned and pulled out his Crush Card trap, holding it up for Damian to see. "It was actually easy. See, I managed to create a special kind of ink that covers the cards themselves, but manages to act differently enough to slip through the sensors themselves! So I can have literally any card in my arsenal, and my disk would think it's a common card! It's genius, really!"

_This is crazy! _Damian exclaimed in his mind. _If what he's saying is true, than ANY card in his deck can be banned! And that means he could have anything! How can I deal with someone who can have any card imaginable!_

He looked at the lone card in his hand, and he winced.

_I can't give up now; I can't go back to Jerian and Angua and tell them I failed. Besides, this guys employer wants me…and I'm not planning to stick around to find out who that is!_

"Oh, and another little thing about my Tongue Twister. Since he was tribute summoned, I can remove him from play when he's sent to the graveyard, and draw two cards."

Two more cards jutted into his exposed hand, and he looked at it.

Damian looked at his lone hand, and he frowned. It wasn't the best, but it would do for now.

"I summon Armageddon Knight in Attack mode."

The all dark wearing warrior appeared in front of him, holding his blade up. (1,400/1,200)

"Which means one Dark monster in my deck goes to the graveyard…"

He snatched out a Necro Gardna, and slipped it into his graveyard.

"Which leaves you wide open for a direct attack!"

Armageddon Knight rushed forward and swiped his blade at Giovanni. The thief grunted and took a step backward, holding his chest.

**(Damian: 6,100) - - - - - - - (Giovanni: 5,600)**

"I can't do anything else." He said with a sad shrug. "I guess that ends my turn."

Giovanni snatched the card off his deck and looked at it. Looking at the other cards in his hand, a grin crossed his lips.

"I'll give you the benefit of the doubt this time around kid," He said. "I won't summon anything, and I'll even make it easier for you."

He took a card from his hand and showed it, revealing the Arms Hole Spell card.

"Now by sending the top card of my deck to the graveyard, I can take any equip card I want from my deck and add it to my hand, at the cost of not summoning this turn."

He took the top card of his deck, looked at it and discarded it to the graveyard. Then, he sifted through his deck and added it to his hand, smirking at it.

_Only a matter of searching now._ Giovanni thought with a grin.

"Doesn't mean I can't defend though." Giovanni slid a card in, and a facedown appeared. "I think that's got me covered for a bit. I'll end my turn."

Damian drew a card, and the poison of the virus covered it. The Dark Creator screamed loudly before exploded into pixels. Damian scowled and slid the card into his graveyard, now left with nothing again.

"Armageddon Knight, attack him again!"

The Dark Warrior raised his blade…

"Activate trap card, Sakuretsu Armor!"

Armageddon Knight shattered into pixels.

Damian, his eyes closed, grit his teeth in anger and gripped a fist. "Just go…"

Giovanni drew a card and looked at it. He scowled a little bit, and a defense position monster appeared before him. "I guess I have nothing better to do than end my turn, eh boy?" he chuckled. "This is easier than shooting fish in a barrel."

Damian drew the card and looked at it. "I play the spell card, Dark Eruption, which lets me take a monster with less than 1,500 Attack Points from my grave and add it to my hand."

He took his Armageddon Knight and summoned it again. (1,400/1,200)

He took his Regenerating Rose, and slipped it into the graveyard.

"Armageddon Knight, attack his defense position monster!"

Armageddon Knight charged the defense position card and sliced it. A mechanical jar with a single, bright red eye and a massive toothy grin appeared on the card.

"Ha! You just attacked by Cyber Jar! I'm sure you know what happens next…"

The eye flashed to life and sucked in the Armageddon Knight. Right afterwards, the Jar itself exploded.

"And now we both draw a few cards…and anything that's capable of being summoned, IS summoned."

Both of them snatched off the top five cards of their decks, and looked them over.

"I think I'll go first." Giovanni said, plucking two cards from his newly drawn hand and slipped it in. "And I'll summon two of the most popular cards in the game themselves, Marshmallon and Spirit Reaper!"

The small dollop of marshmallow appeared (300/500) and beside that one the cloaked skeleton, holding it's scythe up. (300/200)

Damian plucked two cards from his hand. "Okay then, if that's the way it's gonna be, I'll summon my Dark Hunter and my Shadow Priestess of Ohm."

The Priestess appeared in front of him, holding aloft her whip. (1,700/1,600) Beside her appeared a whole new monster, a fiend with green skin, a bird like beak, and a cape. (1,600/400)

"Seeing as I can't take out your monsters as of now, I'll just end my turn…"

"Draw!" Giovanni snatched the card, and his eyes flashed open at it. With a sinister smirk, he cackled. "And now the pain REALLY starts buddy boy! But first I think I'll help you out a little bit more, by playing Contingency Fee! Now, you get to draw a full hand, and I gain 1,000 Life Points for each card you draw!"

Damian drew three cards, and watched as one of them was enveloped by the virus. Dark Crusader erupted into pixels behind him, and he discarded his card, happy to now be at a total of five cards.

**(Damian: 6,100) - - - - - - - (Giovanni: 8,600)**

"Well, how about we help you out a little bit more? I play the Spell card, Trap Booster! By discarding a card from my hand, I can automatically play a trap card. So I'll discard my Magical Merchant, and activate the trap card, Gift of Greed, which lets you draw two additional cards!"

Damian watched in surprise as he discarded his cards, and drew two additional cards. Neither was capable of being destroyed by the Virus.

"And now…I think it's about time to end you." He said with a chuckle. "I'll remove from play Jinzo, and Airknight Parshath…"

The spirits of the cyborg and the seraphim appeared behind him, and began to transform…

_A light monster…and a dark monster…he's capable of playing any illegal card he wants…_

Realization hit him like a stone wall.

_Oh no, oh god no…_

A giant form began to tower over the opposing duelist; a pair of red eyes began to peer from the darkness…

"From the darkest pits of hell, and one of the rarest and most banned cards in the game! Summon forth…"

The giant monster formed finally. An armored beast, almost far too big to fit in the room itself, shrouded in a sickly green like color, with long hair sticking from the back of it's head and pure evil burning in it's eyes. It let loose an earth shattering roar.

"The Chaos Emperor Dragon – Envoy of the End!"

(3,000/2,500)

…

Jerian stopped in mid step, as if time had suddenly frozen for him. He bowed his head and tilted it, as if hearing something. He scowled, his hand moving to his bandages around his head.

"I felt it too," he answered to a voice only he could hear. "I'm glad to see we're not the only ones…"

He took a deep breath, and nodded.

"Something else is coming…"

…

"Whoa…" Damian said, taking a step back as the giant monster lumbered over Giovanni's deck. "I…I never thought I'd have to face…I never thought I've have to face this thing…"

"Yeah, not a lot of people expect having to deal with the deadliest of all Duel Monsters cards that ISN'T a God Card?" Giovanni asked, crossing his arms in a cocky fashion. "You SHOULD feel scared you know…"

"Yeah?" Damian asked, suddenly remembering something. "Well even if you DO decide to nuke the field, not only will I have life points left over, but you'll be as cleared of a field as me! I'll have a way to come back from this!"

"I think not, boy," Giovanni grinned, "Remember the card I grabbed with Arms Hole? I didn't grab it for the sake of looking fancy! I equip my monster with Primal Eruption!"

A spell card appeared behind the monster, and the dragon glowed brightly.

"This thing's quite a powerful little thing. See, should my monster ever be destroyed by a card effect, my equip spell can take the brunt of the blow and stay on the field. And wouldn't you know it? That also extends to my Dragons effect itself."

Damian's eyes widened. "Dear god, you really CAN copy anything…"

"Heh, believe it or not boy, this is a real deal." He showed him the card, tapping it, "I decided sometimes its better having the real thing rather than a copy sometimes." He grinned, "Besides, when I do decide to cash it in, this'll be quite a pretty penny!"

"Then…how did you get this card?" he asked. "And if it's real, how is your disk playing it? Wouldn't it be banned with your dragon?"

"Well…for the first question, let's say I had to slit some throats." Giovanni laughed, dragging his thumb against his throat with a wicked sneer, "And as for the second, well, it was made for a collector's item AFTER the dragon itself was banned, so it wouldn't make sense to ban a card that can't even be played in the first place."

"Touché. So you're not only a counterfeiter, but a murderer."

"Hey, if I'm gonna go for one crime, might as well go for all of them!"

Finally, he snapped his fingers, and the Dragon snapped to life. Flames began to lick at its mouth and it took a deep, deep breath…"

"And now I pay 1,000 Life Points…to unleash Armageddon!"

A torrent of horrible flames came from the mouth of the great beast, which hit everything on the field and in both players hands. A multitude of screams came from the monsters themselves, and an explosion of tremendous force rattled Damian's field, and the Shadowchaser screamed in horrible pain as he was flung backwards several feet.

"DAMIAN!" Scraps screamed in surprise at the sheer force of the attack. The crumpled form of the Shadowchaser could only groan in pain.

**(Damian: 1,900) - - - - - - - (Giovanni: 7,600)**

"Heh, heh, heh…" Giovanni chuckled as the smoke cleared, and the massive beast was still on the field. "I think I just proved my point…and now…eh."

Damian began to glow with a dark light, motes surrounding him. Slowly, he rose up, coughing up a lung as the attack had nearly dislocated his arm.

**(Damian: 2,900) - - - - - - - (Giovanni: 7,600)**

Giovanni's eyes narrowed darkly. "Care to explain how you miraculously got an extra boost in life points?"

"A little monster that you just happened to discard." Damian said, coughing a little bit harder. "Black Nostrum, which when it's discarded to the graveyard from my hand by a card effect, I gain 1,000 life Points, so thanks for that."

"Like it's gonna matter, your one hundred and one life points less of surviving! Chaos Emperor Dragon, attack with Armageddon Eruption!"

The dragon let out a massive torrent of flames at the Shadowchaser.

The ghostly form of Necro Gardna appeared on the field, and with a loud growl, blocked the blow from the fire, protecting Damian entirely.

Giovanni's teeth were cracking at the force of him gritting them in anger. "You're getting REALLY lucky kid…' he snarled. "Now go! Let's see if you can stand up to the awesome might of my Chaos Emperor Dragon!"

At the mention of its name, the Dragon roared again, which made Damian wince.

"Gonna make me go deaf before I even get my turn." He said, drawing his card. "Damn…there's not a lot I can do right now…I'll set one card facedown and end my turn…"

Giovanni made no move to draw a card, rather letting his hand go to his graveyard. "By skipping my draw phase, I can take my Primal Eruption card and add it to my hand."

The equip card slid out, and he took it. He played it, and the dragon began to glow again.

"And there's nothing to protect you this time!" Giovanni laughed. "And my Equip protects my dragon from all effects! Your facedown can't possibly help you!"

The Dragon began to release his flames again.

"Irony, it's a funny thing. I'm gonna fight Fire with Fire with Fires of Doomsday!"

The facedown card flipped face up, and the two fireballs appeared in front of him. One of them shattered as a result of the attack.

Giovanni snarled and twitched a little bit. "Fine! I'll just end my turn…I'll wipe you out next turn…"

Damian drew his card, and showed a spell card. "I play Beginning of the End. Now, I can remove from play five Dark monsters in my graveyard and in exchange draw three cards."

Dark Horus, Darklord Zerato, Dark Creator, Dark Valkyria and Dark Grepher slipped out of his graveyard, and he drew three cards. He scowled and looked at his cards, sliding a single card into the disk. "Most I can do is set this card facedown and end my turn…"

Giovanni drew a card and looked at it. He frowned. Dead draw.

"I can still use my monsters effect!" He shouted. "I'll pay 1,000 Life Points-"

"Oh no you won't!" Damian's facedown card flipped up. "Divine Wrath has something to say about that! I can discard this and negate the effect of your monster and destroy it!"

He swiftly discarded one of his remaining cards, and a bolt of lightning struck the giant dragon on the head. The dragon roared, and the aura that surrounded the demonic dragon disappeared, and the equip card shattered.

"So I can't wipe out your field! I can still destroy your only defense! Chaos Emperor Dragon, attack his last token!"

The fires swept forward and burned the token out of existence.

"I'll end my turn," Giovanni sneered. "Don't know what you hoped to accomplish with that, I'll just grab the equip card again and nuke the field! By then, your field will be clear and I'll be able to clean you out completely!"

_He's right, _Damian thought, putting his fingers on the top of his deck. _Unless I draw something to get rid of that dragon, I'll be dead by his turn!_

He drew his card and cocked an eyebrow at it.

_How in the hell did THIS card get into my deck? _He read the effect, and scowled. _Well…I'll be, that's…actually a decent effect. And with the other card…well, I just have to hope for the best!_

"I summon Card Ejector in Attack mode!"

It was a strange sight to see what appeared to be a four year old girl dressed up in an outfit similar to that of the Dark Magician. The staff was made for her, small and pink, and she was fitted with pink, heart covered robes. (400/400)

Giovanni couldn't help but laugh. "You're gonna face my great dragon with a little girl playing dress up? That's rich!" he laughed.

"It's not just gonna take out your dragon, she's gonna take out the life line itself!" Damian announced, "Because once per turn, I can remove from play a card in your graveyard, so I'll remove your Primal Eruption!"

Giovanni's eyes widened behind his sunglasses as the card in question slipped out of his graveyard, now forever out of his reach.

"And I think I I'll finish my turn by setting one card facedown and ending my turn." He said, as a facedown card appeared behind the small spellcaster, her job now done. "And it's gonna end my turn."

Giovanni drew his card and looked at the two cards in his hand, both worthless in this situation. And he couldn't risk using his Dragons effect! The little punk might be able to get something to turn the whole duel around! He'd be just as open as he was!

_Wait…_He thought to himself, a grin forming on his lips. _I can win this! I just need to attack his monster and bring his Life Points down to 300! Then I can nuke the field and clear him out once and for all!_

"Chaos Emperor Dragon, attack his Card Ejector!"

The flames washed forward to the little girl…

"Go, facedown! Draining Shield!"

The shield shot up and washed the flames away, which turned into a healing energy. Damian sighed in relief, feeling the coursing healing energies surge into him.

**(Damian: 5,900) - - - - - - - (Giovanni: 7,600)**

Giovanni's face looked so red, Damian thought he was going to pass out.

"You…little….gr…..eeerg!" Giovanni roared. "How dare you?! How dare you make a mockery of the greatest Dragon in the game with a toddler and a trap card! I'll make you PAY for insulting my great beast in such an insulting way!"

He looked at his cards one final time, the Dragon still standing tall.

"I'll just end my turn!" He shouted.

As Damian drew a card, Giovanni's eyebrows went up in surprise.

The three of them were not alone.

Someone was watching them duel.

His eyes went over to the darkness, his eyes wide in fright.

_Did that shadow just move?_

Off in the distance, the call of a coyote was heard. Giovanni's heart skipped a beat.

They were getting closer.

He needed to finish this off NOW.

Damian threw the card he just drew onto his disk. "I summon the Dark Bug!"

Truer words were never spoken as the odd looking creature appeared in front of him. It was a mirror shaped creature in the shape of a cross, with six spindly spider legs. (100/100)

"And by summoning him, I can Special Summon a Level three Tuner monster from the graveyard. So I'll summon my Dark Resonator!"

The Cheshire cat grinning fiend appeared, holding his tuning fork and hammer up proudly. (1,300/300)

"And now, Synchro Summon, Dark Resonator, Card Ejector and Dark Bug!"

The three cards leapt into the sky and exploded into seven brightly colored stars.

"Shimmering stars shining upon the darkest reaches of the nether world! King of the underworld arise, Synchro Summon! Archfiend Chaos King!"

An impressive monster appeared in front of Damian, a large, lanky fiend with dark, scaly skin and two wing like protrusions sticking from its back, flames erupting from them. Its hands were gloved, but two large blades stuck out from its forearms, with flames also erupting from it. (2,600/2,600)

Giovanni let out a sigh of relief. "Heh, ya had me scared their kid! That things a little too weak to take out my monster by itself!"

"Yeah, but that's what card effects are for!" Damian boasted, "See, my monsters a living breathing Shield and Sword spell, when he attacks the attack and defense of monsters on your side of the field are switched!"

"What?!"

"Archfiend Chaos King, attack his Chaos Emperor Dragon with Blazing Scythes!"

The Archfiend flew forward, his blades extended and the Chaos Emperor Dragon groaned a little bit. Its stats changed to (2,500/3,000) and with one swipe of his weapon beheaded the giant dragon.

**(Damian: 5,900) - - - - - - - (Giovanni: 7,500)**

The counterfeiter fell to his knees as he watched his best monster slide into the graveyard, his eyes wide. "There's…no way…no one's ever…defeated my strategy…"

"First time for everything ya fraud," Damian sneered. "I end my turn. Let's see if there's anything in your deck that you can pull out of my ass and beat my monster."

Giovanni weakly pulled out his card, and looked at it. He grimaced at it. "I can't beat you outright…but I can defend myself. I play Primal Portal."

The spell appeared on the field.

"By removing my Dragon in my graveyard from play, I can Special Summon one Light and One Dark monster that's been removed from play."

The dragon slid out of his graveyard, and two bursts of energy later, Jinzo and Airknight Parshath appeared in defense mode. (2,400/1,500) (1,900/1,400)

"And that's all I can do…"

"Whose giving who target practice now mate?" Damian taunted as he drew a card and thought. Maybe there was a reason he added this card to his deck. If Giovanni could have any banned card…well…maybe the tables can be turned in an oh too ironic way…

"I set one card facedown, and have my Archfiend attack Jinzo!"

The Archfiend king sliced the cyborg in half.

"That'll end my turn…"

Giovanni drew his card and showed the spell card. Pot of Greed appeared on the field, letting loose its sinister chuckle, and Giovanni drew two more cards. Another grin crossed his lips. Maybe he could still win…

"I'll just end my turn, boy…see how this turns out, eh?" Giovanni sneered.

Damian narrowed his eyes and drew a card. He gestured. Archfiend Chaos King sliced Airknight Parshath in half.

"I'll end my turn." Damian said.

Giovanni drew a card, and he showed a card he had last turn. "I play Soul Release! I'll remove from play these five cards…"

Spirit Reaper, Marshmallon, Airknight Parshath, Jinzo, and Magical Merchant slipped out of his graveyard, and he added the cards to his pocket. Immediately after settling the cards in there, he showed him the card that made Damian grin.

"Now I play Dimension Fusion! This allows me to-"

"Excuse me," Damian spoke up, "I think you mean I'LL be playing Dimension Fusion, because I play my Spell card, Spell Transfer!"

The spell appeared on the field, and much to Giovanni's shock, Dimension Fusion disappeared from HIS field, and reappeared on Damian's!

"Spell Transfer allows me to play an opponent's Spell card as if it were my own! And just call it a hunch that you would play this card, based on the kind of rare cards you have to remove from play and Special Summon later in the duel for a soul crushing defeat, I was just biding my time, considering most Dark Counterpart cards are based on removing from play, so if you don't mind, I'll pay 2,000 Life Points and bring out my OWN army!"

A multicolored portal of chaotic colors appeared behind him, and one by one a monster would rise from it. Dark Horus was first (3,000/1,800), followed by Darklord Zerato (2,800/2,300), Dark Grepher was next (1,700/1,600) and finally, the lumbering form of the Dark Creator appeared. (2,300/3,000).

The mass army of Dark Counterparts glared daggers at the counterfeiter. Giovanni fell to his knees in shock, dismay, and most importantly, fright. His hand of three fell to his knees, one of them revealing to be United We Stand spell card.

"I…I can't lose…It's…" His eyes widened. Another howl, this one of a wolf. The cackle of a hyena. "He's here! Don't you hear him!?"

Damian looked at the man strangely, sure he had lost his mind. Damian drew his card quickly, assuming that he was done and pointed a finger at him. "Everyone, get him!"

The five monsters charged up their own attacks and at the same time fired them at the man. Giovanni's screams echoed throughout the factory.

**(Damian: 3,900) - - - - - - - (Giovanni: 0)**

"And that's game!" Damian shouted as his monsters and field vanished. "As per the terms of our agreement, you're under arres—"

He stopped when the smoke cleared, and Giovanni was on his knees, shakily holding up a gun, his eyes wide behind his now cracked glasses.

"I-I can't go." He shook his head in a panic. "I can'! He's found me! It's too late!" he breathing was labored, panicked. "I can't, I can't, I won't go! I won't let him get me!" a grin crossed his lips. "I'll kill you first, if I do that, then he'll let me off the hook!"

"Who!?" Damian finally shouted, making sure to not make any sudden movements. "Who are you working for?! Who wants me dead so much?!"

"You really are dense, ain't ya?" Giovanni grinned, "It's so obvious, isn't it? It's—"

SCHWING!

Giovanni stopped in mid sentence, his eyes wide, and his face went pale. He looked down, dropping the gun as it clattered to the ground, and looked down at the dagger that was now sticking from his chest, which had punctured his back. He looked up at Damian for a second, coughed up a good mouthful of blood, and fell on his side.

Damian's eyes widened at the suddenness of the attack, and looked over at the wall upon hearing metallic clanging sounds hitting the walls. A shadow was seen climbing up the walls at a surprising speed, and it turned back, allowing Damian to get a look at it. A crouched over humanoid being, his body shrouded in a pelt it looked like. With a very animalistic howl, it disappeared into the night.

Damian rushed over to the dying Giovanni, pulling the blade from his opponents back but realized it was all ready far too late. He needed answers. "Who?!" Damian shouted, grabbing Giovanni by the front of his shirt and shaking him. "Who are you working for?! You can help me stop them!"

Giovanni coughed a little bit harder, his eyes fading from behind his cracked sunglasses. "The….the…" he croaked, blood leaking from the corners of his mouth, his complexion getting paler and paler.

"Who?!" Damian shouted, desperation growing in his voice.

"The….sons….of…..Tyr….raaagh…" With that last death rattle, Giovanni stopped breathing, and the counterfeiter knew no more.

If Damian was shocked, he showed it then and there. His face was a combination of shock and anger, and he didn't move. Finally, with a growl, he threw Giovanni to the ground, none too delicately either.

"Damian…?" Scraps asked cautiously, his heavy footsteps approaching Damian from behind.

"Call Angua and Jerian and tell them to get over here. Get someone on the body, destroy the machine, get any info you can find, and destroy ANY counterfeit cards you can find."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to go after whatever the hell just killed Giovanni." He said, standing up and looked dead serious, something Scraps wasn't too use to seeing. "Whatever he was killed for, Giovanni knew something, and that means so did whatever killed him…"

"But Damian, it could be dangerous…" Scraps said softly.

"I need to go do this Scraps, I can't let something that's capable of killing people out in the night of Los Angeles." Without another word, Damian rushed through the warehouse and out into the night. Hopping onto the D-Wheel, and sped off into the night in the direction he knew the creature had rushed off to.

A lone howl echoed through the night…

…

A single lone being looked down at the bustling city of LA, his entire body shrouded in the shadows up on the hill that the figure, along with a small group of others that accompanied him.

A small grin crossed his face upon hearing the howl.

Only a matter of time now…

…

**Abyss Mirror  
Type**: Machine/Dark/Effect  
**Attack/Defense**: 0/0  
**Stars**: 1  
**Effect**: When this card is destroyed as a result of battle, select one monster on your opponents side of the field. Special Summon one DARK-Type monster from your deck with the Same Level, ATK, DEF, and Type as the selected monster.

**Primal Eruption  
Type**: Spell/Equip  
**Image**: Chaos Emperor Dragon – Envoy of the End standing atop a demolished skyscraper, roaring loudly.  
**Effect**: This card can only be equipped to "Chaos Emperor Dragon – Envoy of the End". When the equipped card would be destroyed by an effect card, you may destroy this card instead. You may skip your draw phase to add this card in your graveyard to your hand.

**Primal Portal  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: Chaos Emperor Dragon – Envoy of the End and Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning fading into existence as D.D Warrior Lady and Caius the Shadow Monarch forming in front of them.  
**Effect**: Remove from play one "Chaos Emperor Dragon – Envoy of the End" or "Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning" in your graveyard from play. Special summon one LIGHT and DARK-monster that was removed from play to your side of the field. As long as the selected cards remain on the field, they cannot declare an attack.

_Note: Primal Eruption and Primal Portal" were created by Metal Overlord 2.0 All creative credit goes to him._

**Black Nostrum  
Type**: Plant/Dark/Effect  
**Attack/Defense**: 400/400  
**Stars**: 1  
**Effect**: When this card is discarded from your hand by a card effect, you gain 1,000 Life Points.

_Note: Black Nostrum was first created by Man Called True in his fic "Yu Gi Oh: Tilting the Balance". All creative credit goes to him._

**Spell Transfer**  
**Type**: Spell/Quick-Play  
**Image**: A spell card with a kanji sign in the picture glowing while a card with its back to the player.  
**Effect**: Activate only when your opponent activates a Spell Card. The cards effect is applied as if you were the cards Controller. Also, if the Spell card Designated a Target, you can change it to another correct target.

_Note: Spell Transfer was first used by Umbra in the anime Episode "Double Duel Part 2" All creative credit goes to the writers of that episode._

…

More mysteries than answers this chapter. Who killed Giovanni? Or would a better question be WHAT killed Giovanni? Damian hunts down the strange creature before it reaches its next intended target…but who's the new target? And what did Giovanni try to tell Damian before dying? Who was on the hill? Maybe we'll find out next time. Find out most of the answers next chapter in "Cloak and Dagger", coming soon!


	6. Cloak and Dagger

Disclaimer: I do not own the Yu-Gi-Oh! Franchise, nor do I intend to make a profit from this fanfiction. The premise does not belong to me, merely the characters that happen to appear in it.

Also, I took creative liscensing on a VERY old card in this chapter you may see. Me and my beta decided using the "older" version of said card would be better, as the loophole was rather tricky.

…

The night was quiet and clear over the City of Angels, especially in one of the more rural parts of LA itself, West Adams. The oldest neighborhood in all of Los Angeles had that comfortable feel to it, as if nothing in the world could go wrong.

One house in particular was amidst a flurry of activity. The eldest member of the house hold, a man who looked well into his sixties with snow white facial hair, combed back white hair that reached the middle of his back, a pair of bright, emerald eyes behind two horn rimmed glasses, around his body was a white lab coat of sorts. The man itself was looking a book, his index finger sliding under to words, as to not lose his place.

"Dad," Mumbled a voice from the other side of the room, causing the man in question to look up.

The girl who had appeared her aforementioned father was a very pretty little thing, long red hair that reached the bottom of her neck, her complexion pale with a few freckles around her face, emerald eyes like her fathers, a simple white shirt and a pair of blue jeans, her own pair of glasses atop the tip of her nose.

"It's so late," She rubbed her eyes a little bit, "What are you still doing up? You need to sleep, you know."

The man in question gave his daughter a small chuckle and ushered her over to his work bench in question, "Jessica, come here, I think I may be on the brink of something."

Jessica rolled her eyes but smiled none the less, walking over to her father and peeked over his shoulder. He was pointing to a picture in his book.

"Do you see?" he asked excitedly, "I managed to find a way to transmute plain old, ordinary garbage into…" he said, pausing for the dramatic tension, "Actually useful building materials!" he rubbed his hands together excitedly, "Think of all the good this would do, all the extra buildings that could be made!"

The man in question was named Alphonse, but more importantly, he was quite a skilled alchemist.

When most people thought of alchemy these days they thought of mostly the portrayals of it in popular culture, the ideas of turning lead into gold, pursuing eternal life, things that, while appealing to be sure, had very little in relevance to the real world practice. Alchemy was a field studied primarily by either Shadows, or humans who were either Aware or at least Sensitive. The reason for this was due to the things one dabbled in regularly in the pursuit of alchemy you either needed a much less narrow perspective of the world around you, that and a bit heftier insurance package then most (the part where things occasionally exploded was, unfortunately not far from the truth when it came to beginners) in the conversion of mineral and metal alloys. Alphonse had always dreamt of using his skills to help others, and after a few different projects he had begun working on a means to convert discarded ore found in everything from aluminum soda cans to broken down automobiles into reusable building materials, thus providing industries everywhere a renewable source of materials that would greatly reduce one of the largest sources of waste in the world.

Jess smiled a little bit at her father's noble and somewhat insane antics, and nodded a little bit. She walked over and wrapped her arms around her father's neck. "You need to go to bed dad, the past week you've been up studying this…"

Alphonse nodded a little bit and patted her on the arm. "I know, I know," he said with a brief nod of his head, "I'll go to bed in a little bit, I just need to test something."

Jess nodded and released her fathers head. "I know you wanna make the world a better place and all that but sleep is a requirement you know…"

Alphonse laughed a little bit. "I know, sweetie, I know," He said as he stood up and kissed his daughter on the forehead. "Now you go off to bed, and I'll go to bed soon too, lord knows I've been up for far too long to be considered healthy."

He suddenly stopped, and his eyes widened. A cold air blew through the house, and he looked around, his eyes now narrowed.

Jess blinked at her father's sudden reaction to…well, nothing. "Dad?" She asked after a minute of heavy silence, "Dad, what's wrong?"

Alphonse didn't say anything but instead rushed over to his desk. He opened up a drawer and looked into it, throwing out a few papers before pulling out a single Duel Monsters card.

"Jessica, what I'm going to tell you is of the upmost importance, so please, _Listen, carefully._ I need you to take this card, get out of the house, and run. Don't stop running, no matter what happens. If you can, get someone to help you."

"Dad, you're scaring me…" Jess whimpered.

"Take this," Alphonse shoved the card into her hand, and wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug, "And baby…please, stay safe…I love you…"

"Dad…" Jess' eyes began to water in fear. What was going on? What was her father talking about?

_CLANG!_

"Go!" Alphonse pushed her out of the door. "Jess, leave! Run!"

Jess, too frightened to question her father anymore than she all ready had, rushed from the room, down the stairs and out the front door.

Alphonse sighed a little bit, and took a deep breath, puffing his chest out, almost as if he was expecting something to happen.

_CRASH!_

The window behind him exploded into fragments, and he turned his attention to the figure that was now perched on the window sill.

Alphonse narrowed his eyes as the beastial looking humanoid panted and snarled, foam dripping from his hidden face. A low howl escaped from it…

"I've been expecting you…" Alphonse said, grabbing anything that would be a suitable weapon for now.

The being peeked at him from under what appeared to be the pelt of an animal, and with the snarl to match that of a wolve, claws erupted from his fingers.

The being pounced.

…

Jess panted hard, her legs pumping themselves as fast as they could, her breathing and her eyes watered. What was going on? What had her father wanted her to run for? It wasn't a bad idea; something was bad the moment she went up in her father's study. It was an ominous wind…but what had happened?

A loud howl, and a loud scream of pain came from the direction of her home. Her eyes widened and she turned around. "Dad?" She whispered to herself, fearing the worst.

The front window of her home exploded and a single being erupted from the wreckage. It seemed to sniff the air, and turned its head to her. Another loud howl, and it raced towards her at break neck speeds.

Jess cried out in surprise and fell on her bottom with a dull thud. The creature leapt into the air, it's fangs flashing wildly as it bared it's teeth, which were stained with the blood of it's father…

A loud, explosive vroom came from behind Jess, and a bright light followed as a motorcycle or a D-Wheel, at least that's what she thought anyway, and the bike in question collided with the airborne beast, throwing the rider from his bike, and the beast out of the air.

The being on the bike landed on his side, and his d-wheel crashed down beside him, the creature whimpering on the side.

"Okay, you furry son of a bitch," Damian grunted as he rose up from the ground, gritting his teeth and putting his Sunglasses back onto the front of his shirt, and rose to his feet. "I've got you now, so come quietly and I won't have to resort to violent measures."

The being grunted and rose up first on all fours and then on its hind legs, it was humanoid but it was impossible to define it as truly human. With every step it took its body, partly hidden beneath a blood stained coyote pelt, shifted bulged and rippled. One minute its body was built like a grizzly bear covered in shaggy brown fur and claws that could tear through flesh like paper, the next flashes of oily looking scale covered flesh rippled over its body a serpentine tongue flicking out between teeth stained black with gore. Yet the one thing that never changed was its eyes, blood red with a feline pupil staring balefully out at Damien through the carved out sockets of its pelt saliva dripping from its mouth as its chest heaved like a bellows.

Damian narrowed his eyes. "Funny," He said, "The Shadowchasers don't see too many Skin-Walkers around here, or ever anymore."

_Skin-Walker? _Jess thought to herself, watching the odd creature stand on all fours and snarl angrily towards the direction of the intruder. _Dad told me those things were long gone! What's one doing here?_

The Skin-Walker snarled a little bit and narrowed its eyes, his claws clacking against the concrete, its blood red eyes focused solely on Damian. Damian, keeping his eyes on the creature, circled it in return. His fists clenched a little bit, as if anticipating anything the so called extinct creature could throw at him.

"Be careful!" Jess suddenly cried, making the Shadowchaser in question jump. "Skin-Walkers are known to be ferocious with the speed of any animal they want!"

"Wait, you can see—"

The Skin-Walker took the distraction to roar with that of a bear, and pounced on Damian, knocking him to the ground. It's teeth, long, red and gnashing at this point, snapped mere inches from his face, saliva and slather dripping on his face as a result. The only thing keeping Damian's face attached to his head was the arm he brought up at the very last minute.

Damian growled loud and pushed hard on the growling animalistic being, which gave him enough time to thrust his head forward and head butt the Skin-Walker in the face. The shadow howled loud and staggered backwards, a clawed hand reaching up.

"Trust me that was no picnic for me." Damian murmured, holding a hand on his now throbbing forehead, a large welt growing on it now. "Now I don't know how you got here, and I don't really care! All I know is you probably killed more than your share of people! Now come with me quietly and I won't have to resort to taking you down for good."

The Skin-Walker let loose a loud, echoing hyena laugh as if the beast could comprehend that the very idea of surrendering so easily was ludicrous. It bared its teeth, and its eyes flashed, as if telling Damian to bring it on.

Damian cracked his knuckles and prepared to throw a punch if necessary. He had learned as much as he could about all forms of shadows, but Skinwalkers…Skinwalkers were a whole new breed he nearly new nothing about. Jalal had only told him to beware them on the off chance he DID encounter one, for they could use the skills of any animal they have feasted on, or currently wearing as a pelt.

Well, if that was the case, then why wasn't it attacking him anymore ferociously than a rabid animal would? Had he been in his situation he would have clawed him up…

The Skin-walker howled and jumped forward a little. Damian flinched. The Skin-Walker gave a little chuckle similar to a hyena and backed away again, it's red eyes flashing.

What was it doing?

It jumped, Damian flinched, and still…nothing. Was it really just toying with him? This furry little monster was toying with him!

"Be careful!" Jess cried out, catching his attention again. "He could be just toying with you! I don't think that Skin-Walkers are covered by the treaty!"

She was relatively true, the treaty only covered "sentient, civilized" Shadows, and as far as the Shadowchasers were, any remaining or previous Skin-Walker was far from civilized. However, it didn't explain WHY it was toying with it.

"Relax miss," Damian waved off the idea, "Something like this toying with me? I'll bet the thing doesn't even know the term tease. All his kind seems to be able to contemplate is killing and slaughtering."

The Skin-Walker snarled a little bit and raised it's upper lip, showing its impressive fangs. He had understood him, and willing to prove him wrong.

A clawed hand reached into leather bag it held on it's side and pulled out what appeared to be a necklace. However, two things were wrong about the jewelry.

For one, it wasn't made of a fine metal, but it was woven together with what looked like hair, _human_ hair, and dangling from the necklace was eleven Duel monsters cards, all of them white to symbolize a Synchro monster.

Damian caught a glimpse at it, and his eyes went wide and he became paler. The cards weren't just any Synchro monster, but a specific kind of Synchro monster, one that made his heart stop.

The cards that dangled there were al pierced through the chest of the being, bloody and completely banged up. All eleven…were copies of Jalal the Dragonborn.

The Skin-Walker gave a small hyena like cackle and gently dragged his claws against the cards like a wind chime, almost lovingly. Its eyes were bright and shining.

Damian's eyes flared into a rage like never before, and he clenched a fist. So…this thing had taken other Jalal's cards? And killed the owners? So this thing was a potentially wanted murderer…

He'd happily take him in.

"So that's the way it is, huh?" Damian asked, his eyes narrowed and his teeth grit hard. "You just killed my colleagues and stole their cards? I see…well, I think that pushed me past the regulations of arresting you to just putting you out of our misery."

He prepared to reach for something in his pocket, which he grabbed for just such an occasion…

The Skin-Walker was suddenly gone in a blur, and circled Damian in a rather amazing speed. When it landed in front of Damian again, it had drawn what appeared to be a circle of white dust around the two of them, leaving Jess just outside of the circle. Before Damian had even a chance to question what on earth he was doing, the Skin-Walker bit into its hand with its razor sharp teeth, small pools of blood now starting to leak from his hand to the ground. He held open said hand and let the blood began to drip to the ground, staining it.

The white dust surrounding the two suddenly erupted into black flames, and just before the two of them vanished into a dark orb, Jess could hear the Skin-Walker cackling insanely with the voice of a hyena.

…

Damian looked around the dark surroundings the beast himself had sent him too, and narrowed his eyes. "I always knew that Skin-Walkers were gifted in the dark arts but…a Shadow Game? Really? I didn't even know dueling was within your range of knowledge."

The Skin-Walker let out a loud, angry growl like that of a bear and reached into a slightly large cloth sack on it's back. It pulled out what appeared to be a duel disk made cloth and…bone, from what Damian can see.

"God, it's stunning, based on all the weird Duel Disks I've seen, and yet I don't understand how some of them can WORK."

The Skin-Walker could have cared less, and slid the duel disk onto his wrist. Damian scowled and did the same thing.

"Let's duel….I guess…." Damian said. Well, he had actually heard stories of his colleague Gears defeating a Skin-Walker for his own test to get into the Shadowchasers, but…well, maybe this one would be easy.

The skin-walker barked loudly.

**(Damian: 8,000) - - - - - - - (Skin-Walker: 8,000)**

"I'll make the first move, draw!" Damian drew his card and slid a card into his disk. "I summon Dark Crusader in Attack mode!"

The tall, dark warrior holding up the massive sword appeared in front of him. (1,600/200)

"Then I'll discard my Dark monster here to increase his attack by 400."

He slid a card into his graveyard, and Dark Crusader began to glow. He rose to 2,000 Attack.

"Then I'll set one more card facedown, and end my turn."

_No card in my knowledge has 2,000 or less attack that he can normal summon. Though I should be careful, who knows what it could have in its entire deck?_

The Skin-Walker grunted and drew its card. Its red eyes peered over the blood stained cards and slid one monster in, letting out a loud bark. In a shimmer of yellow lights, what appeared to be a majestic yellow eagle appeared with a loud shriek, with long wings and a short beak. (1,300/1,300)

_Phantom Beast Cross-Wing?_ Damian thought. _Huh, that's a little…subtle._

But the Skin-Walker wasn't done. It took another card from it's hand and showed it to his opponent, the spell card, Double Summon. The beast waved its hand, and Cross-Wing vanished into more pixels.

A new monster appeared, a bestial, humanoid like creature with reddish brown skin, a pair of surprisingly clean eagle wings, and a mane of black hair surrounding an otherwise feral face. (1,400/1,800)

"Berfomet, huh?" Damian asked. "Well that's nice and all, but it still lacks what my Dark Crusader has in store for you."

Damian completely forgot about Berfomets other ability too, because a clawed finger ran up the beasts side of the deck until it found a card and plucked it out, showing it to his opponent. It was Gazelle, the King of Mythical Beasts.

Damian narrowed his eyes as the beast pulled out one final card and showed it to his opponent, the Polymerization Spell card. Gazelle, a lion like creature with a single horn in the center of its head appeared beside Berfomet, and both flew into a multicolored portal behind the two of them. What emerged was a large quadrupedal lion beast, with two heads, one Lion like, one…something else like, with a large pair of eagle wings sticking out of it's back. (2,100/1,800)

The Skin-Walker pointed a bloody claw forward and let out a barking order. Chimera, the flying mythical beast, roared and flew into the air and landed on Dark Crusader, crushing him flat.

**(Damian: 7,900) - - - - - - - (Skin-Walker: 8,000)**

_Okay, that's actually smart. _Damian thought._ Not only did he manage to summon a monster that can beat anything in my hand, but if I DO defeat it, he can just bring out a 1,800 Attack Point beat stick. Perhaps it was a bad idea to judge this thing based solely on his kinds reputation…_

The Skin-Walker looked at the final two cards in its hand, and slid a card into his disk. A facedown appeared behind the giant two headed beast, and the Skin-Walker gestured that his turn was over.

Damian drew a card and looked at his hand, plucking a card up and showing it. "I play Allure of Darkness, which I can draw two cards by removing a Dark Monster in my hand from play."

After drawing two cards from his deck, he quickly pocketed a copy of Prometheus.

"Then I set one monster in defense mode, and end my turn."

The Skin-Walker snatched up a card and pointed at the defense position monster. Chimera roared and rushed forward, pouncing on the defense position Dark Grepher. The monster exploded into pixels.

The Skin-Walker let out a loud caw like that of a crow and showed a new card from its hard, one that made Damian grimace. De-Fusion appeared on the field, and Chimera glowed before splitting into its components, Berfomet (1,400/1,800) and Gazelle (1,500/1,200) --- (1,800/1,200).

With a sinister grin, and the cackle of a Hyena, the Skin-Walker jabbed a finger in Damian's direction. With a loud roar, Berfomet rushed forward and sliced at Damian with its claws, and Gazelle bit into its arm.

Damian shrieked in pain and stumbled back, looking down at the fresh wounds in his chest, and the massive bite mark in his arm. He winced and groaned, holding said arm.

**(Damian: 4,700) - - - - - - - (Skin-Walker: 8,000)**

The Skin-Walker chuckled a somewhat humanoid chuckle, and shook its head. It then pointed at its facedown card, and it flipped face up.

It was a trap card, showing an old western wanted picture, with the Dark Magician in the picture, and the words "WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE."

"Dead or Alive?" Damian asked. "So that's your game…"

Dead or Alive was a useful trap. It allowed the user to declare the name of a monster and if the opponent had it in his Deck or Extra Deck, it was sent to the graveyard. However, if the card didn't exist in either, the opponent was allowed to take any card they wanted and add it to the top of the deck.

The Skin-Walker let out a low growl of that of a Coyote, and let out a bark, that sounded, much to Damian's shock, sounded like "Jalal."

Damian scowled and slid one of the key cards from his extra deck to his graveyard.

The Skin-Walker pulled out one of its final two cards from its hand, and showed it to Damian, a card Damian didn't expect to see anytime soon. A Spell card called Gravedigger Ghoul.

Suddenly, in four bursts of light, four monsters appeared above Damian's head. Dark Crusader, Dark Zerato, Dark Grepher, and Jalal the Dragonborn itself in card form.

The Skin-Walker sneered and pointed a claw forward. Darklord Zerato and Jalal the Dragonborn vanished into a black mist.

_What a pointless move. _Damian thought. _I have Different Dimension Burial right here in my hand. I can just add them right back to my graveyard._

Damian drew after the Skin-Walker gestured and ended his own turn, and he showed the card in his hand. "I play Different Dimension Burial, which lets me bring back my two monsters to the graveyard."

However, much to his surprise, a loud buzzer was heard, and in bright red colors on his Life points display a large "ERROR" sign. "What?!"

The Skin-Walker cackled deviously and pulled out the Gravedigger Ghoul card, and showed it to him. Damian read it, and he gasped.

"You're using the old Errata effect!" Damian shouted. The old Errata effect proclaimed that he couldn't use the cards and as a loop hole, they would REMAIN in the removed from play pile.

"Let me guess," he growled. "Someone managed to use a spell to allow you to use such a card?"

The Skin-Walker, with a small grin, nodded his head very quickly, small drool bits flying off his muzzle as a result.

Damian, with a growl, discarded his card, having wasted it. Instead, he plucked out a new card. "I summon the Twin-Sword Marauder in Attack mode."

A warrior appeared in front of him, with thick, bulky armor, black skin, and heavy wrist gauntlets that had large, three bladed sword. (1,600/1,000)

"Twin-Sword! Attack Berfomet!"

The Warrior leapt forward and sliced at the winged beast. It let out a howl, and exploded into pixels.

**(Damian: 4,700) - - - - - - - (Skin-Walker: 7,800)**

"So I'll set this one more card facedown, and end my turn." A facedown appeared behind the Twin-Sword Marauder.

The Skin-Walker drew a card and looked at it. He showed it to his opponent, revealing it to be Foolish Burial. A card jutted out of his deck and he showed it, being a Phantom Beast Cross-Wing. He slipped it into his graveyard, and Gazelle rose to 2,100 Attack points.

With a loud bark, Gazelle rushed forward, his claws raised high in the air, and sliced at him. Twin-Sword Marauder exploded into pixels.

**(Damian: 4,200) - - - - - - - (Skin-Walker: 7,800)**

"You're strong…" Damian grumbled. "Not surprised though, you wouldn't have KILLED so many o my colleagues had you not been otherwise…"

Another rather sinister snicker left the Skin-Walkers lips as a defense position monster appeared beside Gazelle. He waved an absent claw, his hand now empty.

As he waved his hand, however, Damian pointed to his set card, shouting, "I play my facedown, Fires of Doomsday, giving me two tokens."

Two tokens appeared in front of him, the stick like bodies and single glaring eyes.

Damian drew a card and smirked. Three cards appeared above his head, showing Grepher, Twin-Sword Marauder, and Dark Crusader appeared. Grepher and Crusader vanished, and Damian discarded a card.

"Then I sacrifice one of my tokens for Dark General Freed."

One of the tokens vanished, and in their place appeared the dark armored warrior. (2,300/1,700)

"Dark General Freed, attack his Gazelle!"

Dark General Freed rushed forward and beheaded the Beast. It shattered into pixels.

**(Damian: 4,200) - - - - - - - (Skin-Walker: 7,600)**

Damian grinned a little bit and waved a hand. "I'll end my turn, you ugly son of a bitch."

The Skin-Walker snarled and drew a card. He glared at it, and gestured to his defense monster. It vanished into pixels, and in front of him appeared a brand new monster. It was a giant centaur like creature, made entirely out of stone and rock. It's body massive, bulky and seemed to be part lizard. It's mouth, like that of a beak, shrieked loudly. (2,200/2,000) --- (2,800/2,000)

_Dammit! _Damian swore in his mind, _Phantom Beast Rock-Lizard. And here I thought I would get an advantage…that must mean his monster must have been a Phantom Beast or Gazelle…he wouldn't have set Wild-Horn in defense, where it's completely pointless, and it's attack didn't increase, so it wasn't Cross-wing, and Gazelle would be better in Attack mode…so that must mean his defense monster was Thunder-Pegasus, which allows him to protect it from battle….damn! That just means I can't beat him in battle and if I beat him by an effect, I'll get hurt even worse! This thing really IS smart…_

The Skin-Walker let out a loud growl of that of a grizzly, and the Rock-Lizard threw what appeared to be a massive boulder at Dark General Freed. The Dark Warrior grunted hard and flew backwards, exploding into pixels. The boulder continued on, slamming into Damian and knocking him off his feet.

**(Damian: 3,200) - - - - - - - (Skin-Walker: 7,800)**

"That hurt…" Damian groaned, sitting up and holding his now completely bashed up chest, checking to make sure nothing else was broken.

The Skin-Walker released a loud, echoing laugh, more of a crow, and waved his hand. He ended his turn.

Damian drew a card and looked at his new card. He gestured. "I summon Dark Nephtys from my graveyard!"

In a large blast of energy, Dark Nephtys appeared in front of him. (2,400/1,600)

"So I'll use his effect and destroy one Spell or Trap on the field. I think I'll destroy my own facedown!"

The facedown exploded, causing the Skin-Walker to recoil in shock. Before their eyes, Dark Nephtys began to glow.

"The card I just destroyed was a trap card Destruction Might. When it's destroyed by a card effect, one monster on the field gains Attack Points equal to it's Level. So that's 700 extra points!"

Dark Nephtys shrieked and its attack spiked to 3,100.

"Dark Nephtys, attack his Rock-Lizard with Obsidian Blaze!"

Nephtys shrieked and blasted a fireball at the massive monster.

Suddenly, black and red lightning erupted from the ground and blocked the blow from the otherwise intimidating attack.

_Good. _He thought, looking at the other card in his hand. _Made him waste it. Now I just need to pray he does what I hope he does…_

"I'll set one more card facedown and end my turn."

The Skin-Walker snatched a card off his deck, and looked at it. It kept it in its hand, and pointed to Dark Nepthtys.

Rock-Lizard growled and threw the giant boulder at the dark phoenix…

"I play my Quick-Play Spell, Dark Invigoration! By removing a dark monster in my graveyard from play, my monster gains 1,000 Attack points!"

Twin-Sword Marauder slipped out of his graveyard, and Dark Nephtys rose to 3,400. She fired a fireball at the boulder, blowing it apart into pebbles, before the giant rock lizard shrieked and exploded into pixels.

**(Damian: 3,200) - - - - - - - (Skin-Walker: 7,200)**

The Skin-Walker narrowed it's eyes from under the pelt, and looked at the single card in its hand. Sliding it into the disk, it narrowed its eyes at Damian and barked, signaling him to go.

Damian drew a his card and looked at it. He smirked. "I summon the Armageddon Knight in Attack mode!" He shouted.

Armageddon Knight appeared in front of him. (1,400/1,200)

He took his Necro Gardna from his deck and discarded it to the graveyard.

"I'm going to enjoy this WAY too much," Damian sneered, "Armageddon knight, attack it directly!"

Armageddon Knight rushed forward and sliced his sword against the Skin-Walker. It let out a loud howl and backed away, licking it's now bleeding arm.

**(Damian: 3,200) - - - - - - - (Skin-Walker: 5,800)**

"Dark Nephtys, attack with obsidian blaze!"

Nephtys released another black fireball at the Skin-Walker.

The beast let out an angry bark and pointed to its set card. It flipped up, revealing a trap known as Shock Draw.

"That lets you draw a card for every 1,000 Points of damage you lose…clever…" Damian murmured.

The Skin-Walker howled even louder as the fireball collided with its chest and lit the pelt on fire a little bit. After beating the fire out, it drew two cards.

**(Damian: 3,200) - - - - - - - (Skin-Walker: 3,400)**

"Heh, looks like someone lost their edge." Damian grinned. "I'll beat you, and you won't be able to bother any other Shadowchasers again! I'll end my turn."

The Skin-Walker drew its card, looking at the three cards in its hand. From under its pelt, it gave a rather sinister grin, and showed another copy of Foolish Burial. A card flew out of its deck, and he discarded it to the graveyard.

_Yikes…_Damian shuddered. _Whatever that was…didn't look pleasant._

The Skin-Walker slid in one final card, and the bright golden eagle like Phantom Beast Cross-Wing appeared in front of him. (1,300/1,300) --- (1,900/1,300)

Damian took a deep breath, sure he was going to attack Armageddon Knight…when suddenly, Cross-Wing vanished into the shadows.

"Hey, where did it—" Damian's answer came a moment later. Something had appeared where Cross-Wing appeared. It wasn't very noticeable though, from what Damian could only see, it had a pair of bright, blood red eyes…(2,700/2,000) --- (3,600/2,000)

"What is…" he began.

He didn't get a chance to finish, as the shadowed being rushed forward and pounced on the giant, metallic, dark bird. Nephtys shrieked as it was brought down to the ground. The beast, whatever the hell it was, clawed at the giant bird, before it finally erupted into black flames. Damian watched in stunned horror as his monster was brought down and in the flames, finally seeing the giant beast in its glory. A werewolf looking beast with matted black fur, long black claws and bright red blood eyes.

"What…is that…?"

…

The two D-Wheels screeched to a halt outside of the warehouse, the blind Samurai Jerian and the werewolf policewoman Angua looked up. "Is It just me," Jerian said, sniffing the air a little bit, "But am I the only one that smells smoke?"

Angua sniffed a little bit, and her eyed widened. "You're not the only one!" She shouted as she hopped off her D-Wheel and threw open the door, going through the previously frozen front room, and kicked the door down.

"Ah, Miss Angua, it's about time you arrived," Scraps said as he dropped another large pile of cards into the fire in the center of the room, "I know I'm not a human and therefore lack emotions, but I will admit, it did feel unpleasant being alone with this body for as long as I was."

Jerian walked in behind Angua as the latter walked over to the no longer moving form of Giovanni, kneeling over him. "What happened?"

"Oh, Master Damian dueled him and won," Scraps said, dropping another pile of illegal cards into the fire, as per Damian's request. "He won, of course, and was almost killed but then…something attacked the two of them. The weapon of choice is over there."

Jerian walked over and picked up the dagger in question. He held it in front of him, gently touching it and frowning. "Scraps…where IS Damian, for that matter?"

"He went after whatever killed the culprit," Scraps answered, throwing the last binder of cards into the flames, "after asking him who he was working for, and all he said was Sons of…something. It was difficult to hear with all the blood gushing from his mouth."

Jerian frowned a little bit and placed the Knife down. "Very well then," he said, rising up. "Angua, get the authorities on this, me and Scraps will look for Damian, he may very well need our help."

"Right." Angua said, rushing back to her D-Wheel to call in for more force.

"Come on, Scraps," Jerian said, walking back outside. "We're going to go see if Damian needs our help."

"It's master Damian, Sir," Scraps said with a nod as he followed after his blind partner. "of course he's going to need our help."

…

Damian watched as the hulking beast lumbered its way back to the Skin-Walkers side of the field. From what he could see, it was another Phantom Beast, and looking at the information that he received from his Duel Disk, it was something called Phantom Beast Night-Walker…that was something he had never heard of before.

**(Damian: 2,000) - - - - - - - - (Skin-Walker: 3,400)**

"So Rock-Lizard was just the set up." Damian narrowed his eyes.

The Skin-Walker cackled as the beast approached his side of the field again, and much to Damian's shock, it rose 300 Attack points to 3,900.

_And it just gets stronger! What kind of monster is this?_

The Skin-Walker only cackled like a hyena and waved, signaling the end of its turn.

Damian snatched the top card of his deck and looked at it. _No doubt about it, this thing is the main monster this thing has to offer. That thing's just OOZING dark energies…_

"I'll play a spell card I've become rather fond of ever since they banned Pot of Greed, Vase of Unholy Blight," He presented the spell card, "By removing one Dark monster in my deck from play, I can draw three new cards."

Damian swiftly removed a copy of his Dark Horus from play and into his pocket while the dark version of the Pot of Greed appeared before him. Its eyes glowed bright purple, and Damian drew three new cards.

_Not bad…_

"I'll set one monster in defense mode, switch Armageddon Knight to defense mode, and set one card facedown. That ends my turn. Take your best shot." The two brown backed cards appeared before him, and Armageddon Knight kneeled down, his blade on his now extended leg.

The Skin-Walker snarled and its ruby red eyes glowed at the mention of the challenge, and drew the card. A grin crossed its wolf like snarl, and it showed the card, which depicted Diabolos, being handed mounds and mounds of gems and jewels by terrified peasants.

Damian quickly scanned over the cards. It was called Spoils of the Strong, and the effect read that the player could draw a card for each card the opponent had on the field and the hand, however, the requirement remained that you had to have a seven star monster and no other card on the field or the hand.

The Skin-Walker drew four cards, and immediately activated two cards from his hand. One card appeared facedown behind the Night-Walker monster, and the other card activated, covering the Night-Walker. Damian looked over at the spell.

"Path of Destiny?" He asked in surprise. "Yeah, that figures. No beast-warrior deck would be complete without it…"

The Skin-Walker, with the loud cry of a crow, pointed forward. The Night-Walker, glowing still, roared and barreled past both of Damian's monster and rushed right for the Shadowchaser himself, its claws gleaming in the light…

When suddenly, the bulky form of the Necro Gardna spirit appeared in front of him, backhanding the Beast-Warrior away from him. Damian pulled the card out of his graveyard, and he showed the card, sliding it into his pocket, stating, "You're not the only one with phantoms, you know."

The Skin-Walker barked angrily as its best monster approached the field again, and slid one final card into its field. A facedown appeared once more, and he let out loud bark that ended his turn.

Damian drew his card and grinned a little bit. "Well, I'd like to say I'd hate to see your Night-Walker go, but I'll be doing everyone a big favor by doing it! I play Dark Destruction Mist! Now, I can remove from play any number of Dark Monsters in my graveyard from play, and I can destroy monsters on your side of the field equal to the combined levels."

He pulled out Dark Nephtys, and a thick, dark mist rose from around the Night-Walker and began to envelope its being. The Skin-Walker, however, didn't look like it cared all that much, giving off the loud cackle of a hyena even as his monster eroded from the inside out. Damian was sharing the same sentiment, before smirking.

"Am I missing the joke here, buddy? I just blew your best monster into kingdom come!"

The Night-Walker and the mist evaporated from sight, and the Skin-Walker pointed to the trap card that flipped up, revealing a Panther Warrior whose sword had broken, the trap card, Miracle Moment.

"Yeah, part of me should have figured." Damian twitched.

In front of the Skin-Walker appeared a tall man, with deep, deep bronze skin, a long blue cape, a loincloth, and two double sided daggers. (500/1,800)

_Can't let him keep that thing on the field, I need to get rid of it NOW._

Damian gestured, and Armageddon knight rose to his feet. "Armageddon knight, attack that thing!"

Armageddon Knight charged the smaller warrior. The Skin-Walker gestured and the swirling vortex of the Negate Attack rose up and knocked the blow away.

"Dammit! Fine, I'll set one card facedown and end my turn."

The Skin-Walker drew its card and immediately slammed it into the disk. One of the most dreaded Phantom Beasts, Wild-Horn, a tall, humanoid moose with a massive, jagged blade of a sword appeared on the field. (1,700/0) --- (3,000/0)

However, it didn't even attack, and it didn't even more. The Darkness surrounded the Beast-Warrior and from the Skin-Walkers graveyard erupted a tremendous amount of dark energy. Damian prepared to ask what was going on, but took a quick step back as the Night-Walker appeared before him, now towering over ten feet above the two of them, saliva dripping from it's mouth as it howled long into the night.

* * *

"What?!" He finally shouted in surprise. "What happened?! What did you do?! Where did HE come from!?"

The Skin-Walker tapped his claw on the card, and Damian, using his Duel Disk, looked down at the stats it gave. It had the one effect Damian didn't see before.

"By offering one "Phantom Beast" Or "Gazelle, King of Mythical Beasts", you may Special Summon this card from your graveyard. This card cannot be Special Summoned except by its own effect."

"Oh give me a frigging break!" Damian shouted as the massive beast tilted its head back and howled loud.

The Skin-Walker tilted its head to the side to the side before a small noise caught both of their attention. Both looked off to the side to see a small mangy looking rat had jumped from under a tin, the sounds of the duel far too much to take now.

The Skin-Walker smirked sinisterly and snatched up the writhing, squealing rodent in its hand and looked over to Damian. "Break?" It actually croaked out, making Damian twitch in surprise, the rat giving off one final squeal as the Skin-Walker flexed it's claw and crushed the rat to death in his grip. "Break."

Damian wasn't one to complain about seeing death, but that didn't mean he was USE to it. A life was precious, no matter how small or big, and just to watch one get snuffed out right there…it still made him sick to his stomach.

Of course, the Skin-Walker didn't seem to care, for he threw the now dead rat into his mouth and chewed loudly, bits of blood dribbling down its chin as it swallowed the small animal with a loud, echoing gulp.

Damian paled a little bit further, and willed himself to not lose his lunch.

This was the reaction the Skin-Walker was looking for, and with the loud echoing caw of a crow that sounded like laughter, pointed a claw forward. The Night-Walker roared and charged down the Armageddon Knight….

"Chain!" Damian shouted at nearly the last minute, "I play my trap card, Nourishing Shadows! Now I gain 500 Life Points for every removed from play Dark monster I have!"

The Spirits of Darklord Zerato, Dark Nephtys, Dark Grepher, Dark Crusader, Twin-Sword Marauder and Necro Gardna flew out of his pocket and stood around Damian, their spirits see through as they nodded to their duelist. They all flew into Damian's body, who gasped and shuddered.

The attack finally connected with the Armageddon Knight and blew it apart.

**(Damian: 2,400) - - - - - - - (Skin-Walker: 3,400)**

The Night-Walker howled as its effect activated, and it rose to 4,300 Attack points.

Suddenly, the final card in the Skin-Walkers hand revealed itself to be a spell card known as Spurred by Bloodshed, depicting a Lycanthrope leaping at an all ready heavily damaged Marauding Captain. It read that a monster that dealt damage to the opponent can attack once again.

The Night-Walker leapt into battle and slashed at the defense position monster, however, a loud, vibrating slam could be heard. The monster revealed itself to be the Dark Resonator, grinning up at the Night-Walker tauntingly. (1,300/300)

The Skin-Walker sneered a little bit and and waved its hand, ending his turn.

"Draw!" Damian drew his card and looked at it. With a small grin, he showed the monster. "I summon Archfiend Soldier in Attack mode!"

The tall, imposing fiend with the jagged blade appeared in front of him. (1,900/1,500)

"Dark Resonator, Archfiend Soldier, Synchro Summon!"

The two monsters leapt into the air and exploded into the seven, glistening stars. From the stars appeared the Archfiend Chaos King, his arm scythes blazing with black and red fire. (2,600/2,600)

"Then I play my trap card, Synchro Portal!"

The trap card lifted up.

"Since I just Synchro Summoned a monster, I can Special Summon a monster with half the summoned monsters Attack, granted, I need to reduce it all to 0. So I'll summon Card Ejector!"

The small, female magician appeared in front of him, curled up in defense. (400/400) --- (0/400)

She looked up at the Night-Walker, and squealed, hiding her face in fright.

"Don't worry, you're gonna help get rid of that thing." Damian reassured. "Chaos King Archfiend, attack his Night-Walker!"

The king of the archfiends rushed forward, it's arm scythes blazing. The Night-Walker snarled and readied itself for battle, even as its score switched to 1,700/4,300, and the blade of the fiend decapitated the massive beast.

**(Damian: 2,400) - - - - - - - (Skin-Walker: 2,500)**

"Okay, Card Ejector, use your effect and get that thing out of my sights!"

The Card Ejector and waved her wand above her head, which began to glow a bright pink color. The Night-Walker slid out of the graveyard, and the Skin-Walker's eyes widened in relative surprise.

Damian grinned a little bit. "I think that's the end of that chapter. I end my turn."

…

"It's just as I feared," Jerian said to Scraps as he turned around the corner, "I sense a very dark energy coming from nearby, we don't have much time. Damian may very well be in it."

"I believe I see it," Scraps said, his optic sensors focusing on what appeared to be a large, black dome in the middle of the street. "Stop Jerian, I believe we've found the source of the energies you're feeling."

Jerian squealed to a stop in front of the large black dome and hopped off his bike, walking up to the large, black dome. He scowled and took a step back, a shiver running up his back. "No doubt about it." He murmured to himself. "This is the source of it, and I can feel Damian inside of it…"

"Jerian," Scraps said as he rounded the dome, "It looks like we have company."

Jerian walked around to see, or rather sense, another person with them. Jess gulped a little bit and waved up at the robot and the blind man. "Hello…"

…

The Skin-Walker stared at Damian with a look that could only be construed pure bestial rage mixed with human hatred. It tore the top card of its deck off and slid it into the graveyard, letting out a loud, braying growl, like that of a challenge.

Damian drew a card and showed the spell card, "I play Psychic Cyclone, I can guess whether your facedown is a trap or a spell and if I get it right, I can draw a card, but if I'm wrong, YOU draw a card. I'm guessing a trap!"

A cyclone of multicolored light struck the facedown card, and Mirror force showed itself before it shattered.

"Just as I figured," Damian drew a card, "And now it's time to end this! I summon Gil Garth!"

The metal armored fiend with the massive sword appeared in front of him. (1,800/1,200)

"Gil Garth, attack his Bronze Warrior with Fiendish Metal Slice!"

Gil Garth rushed forward and sliced his blade. The blade cleaved through the warrior like it was made of hot butter, and exploded into pixels.

Damian pointed as the Archfiend Chaos King readied itself. "Chaos King, finish him off!"

The Chaos King rushed forward and, as the Skin-Walker snarled in pure anger, cleaved against the beast, knocking him back and onto it's back.

**(Damian: 2,400) - - - - - - - (Skin-Walker: 0)**

Damian panted as his monsters vanished, and his duel disk deactivated. He looked up to the Skin-Walker, ready to grab him and take him away…

The Skin-Walker didn't move, even as the dark tendrils of the Shadow game suddenly wrapped around its arms and legs. Its red eyes narrowed up the sky as more and more nightmarish tendrils began to encircle its being. With a loud, echoing howl of anger, the Skin-Walker ultimately vanished into the Darkness, never to be seen again.

…

"The energy," Jerian said suddenly, making Scraps and Jess look up at him, "It feels like its…weakening."

True enough the Dome began to evaporate from top to bottom, revealing the panting, battered up form of Damian as the darkness finally disappeared.

"Damian!" Jerian said in relief, sensing his best friend and not whatever dragged him into the game to begin with.

"Master Damian!" Scraps rushed forward and pulled the Shadowchaser into a deep hug, his metal casing beginning to crush him. "I'm so glad that you're alive and not a smear on the ground!"

"Scraps…" Damian choked, "I…can't….breath…bones…crushing…"

"Oh, yes," he released him from his grip. "Forgive me, Master Damian, I forget how delicate you humans can be sometimes…"

"What happened?" Jerian finally asked.

"Skin-Walker," He shuddered a little bit, shaking his head. "Skin-Walker killed Giovanni, hunted him down…lured me into a shadow game…beat him."

"A Shadow game?" Jess suddenly spoke up, making the three of them notice again. "That thing started a shadow game?"

"Eh…" Damian said. "You could…see it? And you're not freaking out at Scraps?"

"Damian, she's an Aware." Jerian said to his friend, "She claims to have been one for all her life…"

"And if the Skin-walker attacked her…she must be important, seeing as it went for Giovanni and right for her…" Damian said, narrowing his eyes on the girl. "Looks like we have a little clue as to what's going on…"

…

"God Dammit!" Cried one of the members of the group atop the hill , stamping his cudgel on the ground in anger. "All of that energy, all that power used to summon that mangy bastard, wasted!"

The other figure, the larger, imposing figure watched the first one, calmly smoking a cigarette. "Stop prattling on like an old woman who can't find her pills at naptime. The primary mission was getting rid of Giovanni before anyone could trace him back to us, finding the late professors research notes was just a bonus I hardly expected to go so soon anyway."

The figure figure snarled and spun around, pointing his cudgel at its companions face. "DON'T you belittle me boy! Because of Alphonse' pitiful attempts to save his daughter, both he and the notes are gone and leaving us damn near where we started!"

A moment passed from the burst of outrage, and the first figure suddenly backed away from him in fright, as if he finally remembered who he was talking to. The figure stared at him, the cigarette suddenly erupting into ash.

"I…I only meant...I meant-GACK!" The sentence was suddenly cut off as the listened lashed out and struck the speaker with such force, it knocked his head off, bouncing once before it stopped.

However, rather than crumple to the ground, the now headless body suddenly slumped over as if in shame, and walked over, grabbing his head and placing it back atop his shoulders, twisting it so it was back in its original place. "I suppose we're even now, but at least try to understand my frusterations…"

The tall, imposing figure spoke again, "I never said I didn't, but you must remember. MY Gang, MY plans, and MY score to settle. If things couldn't be salvaged, trust me, you'd be in several more pieces."

"I suppose your right," The figure said, drumming his fingers against the cudgel, "but what now? With Alphonse dead…"

"It only means we'll have a busier schedule once things get under way tracking down his brat. Considering she was the apple of his eye, I doubt she doesn't have some record of his work, and any holes in the process shall be well within your capabilities…"

The being smirked and chuckled darkly…

…

**Vase of Unholy Blight  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: A dark form of the Pot of Greed  
**Effect**: Remove from play 1 DARK monster in your deck. Draw three cards from your deck.

**Dark invigoration  
Type**: Spell/Quick-Play  
**Image**: Doom Shaman casting a spell and ghostly phantoms flying towards him.  
**Effect**: Remove from play one DARK-Monster in your graveyard from play and target one face up DARK-Monster on the field. Increase the ATK of the Targeted monster by 1,000 until the end phase of this turn.

_Note: Vase of Unholy Blight and Dark Invigoration were first used by Cyber Commander in his own fics. All creative credit goes to him._

**Shock Draw  
Type**: Trap  
**Image**: A duelist getting shocked by lightning and drawing two cards.  
**Effect**: Draw 1 card for each 1000 damage you took this turn.

_Note: Shock Draw was first used by Yusei in the Yugioh 5D's manga. All creative credit goes to the writers of said manga._

**Dead or Alive  
Type**: Trap  
**Image**: An old, wrinkled piece of paper with a black and white Dark Magician on it, with bold letters saying "WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE"  
**Effect**: Announce the name of one monster. If the selected card is either in your opponents deck or their extra deck, send it to the graveyard. If the selected card is not in the opponents deck, your opponent may place one card from their deck and place it on top of their deck.

**Phantom Beast Night-Walker  
Type**: Beast-Warrior/Effect/Dark  
**Attack/Defense**: 2,700/1,700  
**Stars**: 7  
**Effect**: This card cannot be Special Summoned except by its own effect. When this card destroys an opponents monster as a result of battle, increase this cards ATK by 300. By offering one "Phantom Beast" Or "Gazelle, King of Mythical Beasts" on your side of the field as a tribute, you may Special Summon this card from your graveyard.

**Spurred by Bloodshed  
Type**: Spell/Quick-play  
**Image**: A lycanthrope charging at a bleeding, battered Marauding Captain  
**Effect**: Activate only when a monster on your side of the field deals damage to your opponents life points through battle. The selected monster can attack again. No monster except the effected monster can attack.

**Spoils of the Strong  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: Several weak and dirty looking peasants carrying bags of gold and jewels to a Diabolos, King of the Abyss  
**Effect**: This card can only be activated when you have a face up Level 7 monster and no other cards on your side of the field or your hand. Draw one card for each card on your opponents side of the field and hand.

**Nourishing Shadows  
Type**: Trap  
**Image**: Dark Master Zorc on his side, absorbing several ghostly phantoms into his weakened body  
**Effect**: Increase your Life Points equal to the number of removed from play Dark Monsters you have X 500.

_Note: The above Five cards were created by MetalOverlord 2.0 and all creative credit goes to him._

**Path of Destiny  
Type**: Spell/Equip  
**Image**: Two Samurai about to attack the other from around the corners of a building  
**Effect**: Equip only to a Beast-Warrior type monster. The equipped monster can attack your opponent directly.

**Miracle Moment  
Type**: Trap  
**Image**: Panther Warrior kneeling down in a spot light, holding his broken sword in his lap  
**Effect**: This card can only be activated when a Beast-Warrior monster equipped with "Path to Destiny" is destroyed and sent to the graveyard. You may Special Summon one "Bronze Warrior" from your hand or deck to your side of the field.

**Bronze Warrior  
Type**: Warrior/Effect/Earth  
**Attack/Defense**: 500/1,800  
**Stars**: 4  
**Effect**: During your Standby Phase that this card is face up on the field on your side of the field in Attack Position, you may search your deck for one Beast-Warrior type monster and add it to your hand. If this face up card is in attack mode, increase the ATK of all face up "Beast-Warrior monsters on the field by 400.

_Note: The above cards were first used by Atticus in the anime episode "Pop goes the duel" all creative credit goes to the writers of that episode. Also, please note, I wasn't sure if Miracle Moment only worked when a "Panther Warrior" equipped with Path to Destiny would activate the effect, so I took SOME creative liberties with this card so any Beast-Warrior would activate it._

**Psychic Cyclone  
Type**: Spell/Quick-Play  
**Image**: A man with swirling blue energy surrounding his fingers.  
**Effect**: Select one facedown Spell or Trap on the field. Declare if it is a Spell or Trap Card, and destroy it. If you declared correctly, draw one card. If you didn't, your opponent draws one card.

_Note: Psychic Cyclone was first used by Takasu in the anime episode "The Lockdown Duel". All creative credit goes to the writers of that episode._

**Dark Destruction Mist  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: The silhouette of Dark Creator, Dark Armed Dragon and Dark Grepher in a dark mist that begins to enshroud a Five God Dragon  
**Effect**: Remove from play any number of DARK monsters in your graveyard from play. You may destroy monster(s) on the field whose level is equal to or less than the removed monster(s).

**Synchro Portal  
Type**: Trap  
**Image**: Ally of Justice Catastor flying out of a multicolored portal, with a Goblin Zombie clinging to one of its legs.  
**Effect**: Activate only when you Synchro Summon a Synchro Monster. Special Summon from your deck a monster whose ATK is equal to or less than half of that of the summoned monster. The summoned monsters ATK becomes 0.

**Destruction Might  
Type**: Trap  
**Image**: Cyber Dragon grown to double its size as it shadows a Mobius, the Frost Monarch  
**Effect**: This cards effect can only be activated when it's destroyed by a card effect. Increase the ATK of one monster on the field equal to it's LV X 100.

…

And so we meet Jess. The plot thickens next time when Damian is attacked during his rounds around LA in a Turbo Duel with a strange assailant. Whose is this man and…how does he know Damian's name? Find out next time in "Proof of Powerlessness." Coming soon.


	7. Proof of Powerlessness

Disclaimer: I do not own the Yu-Gi-Oh! Franchise, nor do I intend to make a profit from this fanfiction. The premise does not belong to me, merely the characters that happen to appear in it.

…

The door of Damian and Jerian's home opened very suddenly, and a tired looking disheveled looking Angua walked in, rubbing her eyes slowly. "Ugh, I hate filing murders away. There's so much paperwork to be done, not to mention it's such a pain to actually get out early…" She sighed. "So…what'd I miss and…who's that?"

In the living room sat the trio of Damian and Jerian, Scraps in the kitchen and Jess on the couch, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders, looking visibly shaken up.

"Angua, this is Jess, she was at the scene of the Skin-Walker attack after we left," Jerian said, "Jess, this is Angua, our fellow team mate."

"Hello Angua, it's a pleasure to…" She stopped in mid sentence upon hearing a low, rumbling coming from somewhere she couldn't quite put, "Do you have a dog, Damian? Because I'm hearing a low growling noise…"

Angua suddenly went bright red and cleared her throat. Jerian spoke up again, "Jess, Angua is also a lycanthrope, so if you hear anything that would sound dog like or anything…well, that'd be Angua."

"She's a Lycanthrope?" Jess asked in surprise, looking over at the blonde in question.

Angua crossed her arm and frowned. "Yes, I'm a lycanthrope." She said, "Is there something you have against it?"

"Well, I just heard stories that Lycanthropes are blood thirsty, ravenous beasts…" Jess said innocently.

Angua suddenly snarled and showed her teeth her canines having turned into fangs at this point.

Damian, sensing the potential destruction of his household, stood up between the two. "Okay! Moving right along! Jess, do you mind telling me WHAT you were doing there at the scene of crime?"

Jess nodded a little bit and looked down, wringing her hands together. "The Skin-Walker…killed my father and went after me."

Damian frowned. He knew he saw blood on the claws of that thing while he was dueling it, but he wasn't sure if it was old blood or fresh blood, or even human blood. "Well, why did he kill your father?"

"My dad was an Alchemist, his name was Alphonse." She said softly. "I'll bet anything that whatever the Skin-Walker killed him for, my dad was working on it."

"But why did he come after you then?" Jerian suddenly spoke up, "Surely if you were out of the house at that point and the entire house was deserted…unless your mother was there?"

Jess shook her head sadly and sighed, "My mother died when I was five in a c ar accident, it was only me and my dad when that thing attacked."

"That still doesn't explain why the Skin-Walker attacked you if he killed Alphonse and had the lab to himself," Scraps said as he walked out of the kitchen, handing Jess a cup of coffee to help her settle down, "Surely he could have just searched the lab in question and found what he needed."

"Well…" jess said, taking a sip of her drink in question, "Before I made a run for it, my father gave me a card…" She suddenly perked up. She still had the card.

"A card?" Angua asked, cocking an eyebrow, "As in like a business card or…"

"A Duel monster card," She pulled out the card in question, which was in the back pocket of the jeans she was still wearing and pulled it out and gave it to Damian, who looked at it.

The card in question was the trap card, Metalmorph, and…well, that was it. It was just Metalmorph, the trap that Bandit Keith made infamous in his time at Duelist Kingdom.

"Is there any reason why your dad would give you this?" Damian asked Jess, handing the card back to her.

Jess shook her head. "I don't know." She said. "Well, I know whenever my dad dueled, he would use that as one of his main combo, so…" She shook her head, "I honestly know WHY he would give me this card, other than to keep his memory with me…"

She looked down at the ground and whimpered, her eyes beginning to water up, as it finally hit her that her father was gone, and nothing in this world was going to bring him back. She slid her hands onto her own arms and hugged herself, as if to try and calm her down.

Scraps' eyes turned green as he walked up behind the poor girl and patted her on the back. "While I may not know the feeling of losing someone close to me," he said, trying to sound comforting, "But in my days of research, I do happen to know that people with good intentions and with goodness in their heart is most likely to go to a place where they're most happy, your father is likely in a better place."

Jess remained in her stationary position for a moment and nodded her head, but didn't move other than that. The shock was still fresh in her mind, and it wouldn't be leaving for quite a while.

Jerian, on the other hand, was looking intently at the card that was laying on the table, and he picked it up. "I don't think your father gave this to you for the simple fact of reminding yourself of him."

"Wait…but…" Jess began.

"Yes, I can sense this card has a far greater importance than that of remembrance," He held up the card to her, "Keep this on your person at all costs. Obviously, if something as dangerous as a Skin-Walker went after you, and you had it, there's something they know that we don't."

Jess was still looking at him, and reached up, gently touching the bandages. "How….can you see if you're…"

Jerian couldn't help but chuckle, brushing her brushing fingers off of his face, "I can see," he said, "I just don't see the way you and the others see…"

And with that cryptic note, everything went silent for a moment.

"So…" Angua said softly after a moment, looking over the rest of the group. "What do we do now?"

"It's too dangerous for Jess to go back and live at her home, especially since she's in the open and whatever sent the Skin-Walker to her house knows where she lives." He said. "Jess, I'm sorry to say but you're going to need to move in with here, where you at least get some form of protection."

"But…" Jess began once again.

"I know you probably don't like the idea, but it would be a lot better if you were to move in with us, where if something SHOULD go awry, then you're at the least protected. You're too vulnerable by yourself."

Jess was silent for a moment, before nodding her head and sighed. "Yeah, you're right…but I'm going to need to get my clothes from my old house if that's the case…"

"That's fine," Damian said, "Jerian, you and Scraps'll go to her house and get her anything she needs. Angua, go back to the station."

"What are YOU going to do?" Angua asked, putting her hands on her hips.

Damian rose up and walked over, grabbing his helmet. "I'm going to go do my rounds around LA and make sure everything is okay. I'll call you if I need any help."

The group nodded, and split up respectively.

…

Damian had to admit, on a good day, Los Angeles tended to be a relatively calm and collected…on good days, mind you, however, there was still some form of chaos that he needed to take care of. Thankfully, this was not the case of now.

This left Damian to his thoughts, thankfully. His eyes were narrowed and his focus was determined from behind his helmet. _There's no possible way that Giovanni was working for the Sons of Tyranny…I just need to keep an open mind that nothing is going to happen while I'm doing this. Yeah. It was just a random Skin-Walker attack, I'm sure it's just some random assassin looking to cash in for some Alchemist plans. Yeah, that's it._

That was when something caught his eye as he turned down the street. The street he was currently on was WAY too empty for his liking. Well, he couldn't say it was completely desolate, there was one person in the middle of the street, but that alone all ready seemed out of the ordinary. Damian screeched to a halt in front of the man, and looked at him.

The man was a very imposing height, around a good six feet tall but aside from that…nothing else could be seen on him. His entire body was wrapped in a black tattered cloak, beneath that a skin tight black suit, and on his head was a riding helmet, bright red, with flames on the sides.

Damian stared at the man, and narrowed his eyes. The tall man crossed his arms, and stared down at the Shadowchaser in question.

Silence coursed over the now empty street, save for the wind blowing, and the two figures staring each other down. Damian narrowed his eyes and flicked his visor up.

"Hey, you gonna stand there like a statue or are you going to DO something other than looking intimidating."

"Heh, it's good to see you too, Damian."

Damian paled even harder and his breath hitched in his throat. How…how did this man know his name?

_Get a hold of yourself! _Damian scolded himself in his mind, _Knowing all the people you put away, it's not surprising if you get more than a few people know your name and or want revenge as a result._

"Do I know you?" he couldn't help but ask out.

The tall figure chuckled and crossed his arms. "I'm hurt, boy, that you wouldn't recognize me…" he sighed sadly and shook his helmet clad head. "Heh, but I can manage. However, that doesn't change the fact that you and me are going to duel."

Damian cocked an eyebrow, and crossed his arms. "I'm sorry, it sounded like you said we're going to duel."

"That's right."

"And…what's gonna make me even accept such a duel? What's making me get on my D-Wheel and going about my business?"

The man chuckled and lifted up a hand, snapping his fingers as the noise echoed. A low, growling sound was heard from the alley adjacent to the two of them…

Damian cried out and jumped back just as something just flew from the Alley, nearly hitting the Shadowchaser as a result. Landing on his back, Damian was relieved to find it wasn't something living and breathing, made for rending flesh, but rather it was a D-Wheel, with a black and silver paint job, but the most prominent feature was the demonic looking dragon head on the front, with the eyes as headlights, and the horns curving backwards to form what looked like the handlebars.

"Meet Beowulf," The man said with a dark chuckle, "And let me just tell you he's pretty advanced. See, no matter where you are, I can have Beowulf track and hunt you down, no matter where you are, I will find you, and I will turn you into the most literal version of 'road kill'," he chuckled and leaned on his D-Wheel. "So its your choice kid, you can either duel me now, or live the rest of your life, looking over your shoulder, and making sure I'm not there…"

Damian weighed his options._ Well, it's just a duel, I just duel him, beat him, and get it OVER with…_

"You want a duel?" Damian asked, flipping his visor back down and rushing over to his D-Wheel, hopping on and revving the engines. "Then I'll give you a duel!"

_Gotta finish this as soon as possible…_

The man cackled and hopped onto the aforementioned Beowulf and gunned his own engines.

"Then let's ride boy!"

"Speed World, activate!" Both duelists shouted as everything turned purple and blue to symbolize that the Speed World field spell had indeed been activated.

Both he and Damian blasted off down the street and turned the sharp corner. The man was first, so he would be the chooser of the order.

"I think I'll start this duel! Draw!"

He drew a card and slammed a card into his disk, a blue portal appearing beside him. "I summon Motor Shell in Attack Mode!"

The monsters name couldn't be truer, for it looked exactly like that: the engine of a card, with two shields on top and wheeling beside Damian. (1,300/1,800)

"Then, to keep you guessing, I'll set two cards facedown and end my turn."

The two set cards appeared before vanishing.

Damian and the duelist turned the corner a moment later, and Damian drew.

**(Damian: 8,000/SC: 1) - - - - - - - (?????: 8,000/SC: 1)**

"You're gonna regret putting that monster in attack mode! I'll summon My Twin Sword Marauder in Attack mode!"

The dark armored, three pronged sword wielding warrior appeared in front of him. (1,600/1,200)

"Attack his Motor Shell!"

Twin-Sword Marauder lifted up his blades and rushed to the much weaker machine.

"Trap, activate!" The duelist shouted as his facedown flipped up, "A very powerful one known as Hidden Nitro Burst, which when one of my Motor, Wheel, or Rider monsters are attacked by a stronger monster, my monsters attack is doubled for this one battle!"

The trap glowed, as did the Motor Shell monster, and the engine monster suddenly revved hard. It's attack shot up to 2,600, and when the Twin-Sword Marauder attempted to attack, the monster blasted forward and struck the Twin-Sword Marauder, blowing it to little pixels as a result. Damian grunted as he gripped his handles, and attempted to keep his ride steady.

**(Damian: 7,000/SC: 0) - - - - - - - (?????: 8,000/SC: 1)**

"Lucky shot…" Damian grumbled as he took two cards out of his hand and slid them into his D-Wheel, "I'll set these two cards facedown myself, and end my turn."

As the two set cards disappeared beneath the zooming ground, the duelist drew a new hand and looked at it.

**(Damian: 7,000/SC: 1) - - - - - - - (?????: 8,000/SC: 2)**

The duelist slid the new card into his disk, "I summon Diskblade Rider!"

A green skinned brute atop his own motorcycle, with blue plating on this ones ride, a green mouth guard on the pointy headed demons mouth, blue, spiky shoulder pads, and a massive, circular blade in his hand like that of a buzz saw. (1,700/1,500)

"Chain!" Damian shouted, throwing a hand out as his facedown card, which flipped up, "Hidden Soldiers. Since you just summoned a monster, I can summon a monster from my hand, so long as it's dark, and doesn't need a tribute! So here comes Obsidian Dragon!"

The simplest way to put the newest summoned monster would be a dragon, which was at least three feet tall, and made entirely out of what looked like black rock. It curled up in defense mode upon it being summoned. (800/2,100)

The Duelist cackled and remained ahead of him, looking back at him. "Oh, so close! Because my Diskblade Rider has a special effect! By removing from play one normal trap in my graveyard, I can automatically increase Diskblade Riders attack by 500! And it looks like Hidden Nitro Burst has one more use to it!"

The card slid out of the graveyard, and Diskblade Rider revved his engines even harder. (1,700/1,500) --- (2,200/1,500)

"And it looks like it's just strong enough to beat that eye sore of a monster of yours!" he threw a finger at the defense monster. "Diskblade Rider, attack his Obsidian Dragon!"

The motorcycle bound monster revved his engine and turned a full one hundred and eighty degree turn, heading right for the rock monster.

"And I don't think you'll get the chance, because I'm playing the ever popular, ever loveable, Negate Attack!"

The multicolored shield appeared in front of the rocky monster and the Rider suddenly screeched to a halt to avoid flying off of his bike. His opportunity missed, the warrior spun around but not before the Obsidian Dragon suddenly vanished in a ball of pure darkness.

The duelist frowned and furrowed his brow. "Wanna tell me what you're doing kid?" he asked.

"Simple! Since I activated a counter trap, I'm allowed to sacrifice my Obsidian Dragon and summon one of my biggest heavy hitters. I sacrifice Obsidian Dragon for Dark Voltanis!"

From the dark orb that had swallowed the Obsidian Dragon appeared a frightening looking beast, what appeared to be a fiendish fairy, with floating pieces of it's body floating there. A dark mist was floating under its body, and a large, rather dangerous looking scepter in its hand. It floated there silently, beside its master. (2,800/1,400)

"And by summoning him this way, I can destroy any card of my choice! And I'm not liking the looks of that facedown card of yours."

The giant fallen fairy gestured with its scepter, and the card flipped up, revealing a Sakuretsu Armor before it warped out of existence.

The man sneered under his helmet, and he gestured. "I switch Motor Shell into defense mode and end my turn."

Motor Shell didn't seem to move, but it switched to defense mode anyway.

Damian drew his card, looked at it, and showed it, "I summon Archfiend Soldier in Attack Mode!"

Beside the giant fairy appeared the frightening looking fiend, in its dirty, rusted armor, and its sword jagged and sharp. (1,900/1,500)

"Dark Voltanis, attack Diskblade Rider!"

Dark Voltanis lifted up its scepter once more and fired a blast of pure darkness at the motorcycle riding monster. It shattered into small pixels.

**(Damian: 7,000/SC: 1) - - - - - - - (?????: 7,400/SC: 3)**

"Archfiend Solider, attack Motor Shell!"

Archfiend Soldier flew forward and sunk its cleaver into the metal monster. As its two halves separated, they separated.

The duelist grunted but chuckled, "You never learn, do you boy? By destroying my monster; you just left a Motor Parts Token!"

True enough, what appeared to be a dented muffler appeared where the monster previously was. (0/0)

Damian grinned. _I can't believe I was worried! This guy can't possibly summon anything I need to worry about, or Voltanis should worry about. Heh, I think I'm just gonna take it easy now…_

"I'll end my turn, now come on…give me your best bet!" Damian grinned.

Both duelists turned the corner and shot down the new street, which, oddly enough, was empty as well. They were now on a rather long stretch of road, so would be on there for quite a while. Off in the distance, Damian could see the High way that was being built which lead back into the LA area.

"Draw!" The man shouted, drawing a card.

**(Damian: 7,000/SC: 2) - - - - - - - (?????: 7,400/SC: 4)**

"I'll sacrifice my token to summon Motor Violence!"

A more intimidating monster appeared where the token was, a machine that appeared to be more humanoid, with two large three barreled gun arms on either side of what Damian could only assume was its head. (2,100/1,200)

"Then I'll play Speed Spell – Summon Speeder. Since I have four Speed Counters, I can Special Summon a level four monster in my hand, so here comes Assault Wheel!"

A loud screeching sound was heard like that of something trying to put the brakes on something, and on the other man's side appeared a wheel, with a humanoid top, purple armor, large, blade like protrusions for hands, and small missile launchers on its shoulders. (2,300/0)

"Motor Violence, attack his Archfiend Solider with Motor Blowout!"

Motor Violence spun around and aimed at the fiend in question. Rapid fire energy shots flew from its gun like arms and struck the Archfiend Soldier several times, causing the beast to stagger backwards until he was nothing but pixels.

**(Damian: 6,800/SC: 2) - - - - - - - (?????: 7,400/SC: 4)**

"Now to keep you guessing, I'll set this card facedown and end my turn."

A facedown appeared on the field, before vanishing.

Damian narrowed his eyes and drew his card. _Okay, I need to really stop doubting my opponents, because karma seems to find it funny to bite me in the ass and have them make massive come backs. Well, doesn't matter. No matter what I draw, Voltanis can take care of them!_

Damian drew a card from his deck and looked at it.

**(Damian: 6,800/SC: 3) - - - - - - - (?????: 7,400/SC: 5)**

"I'll play my own Speed Spell – Angel Baton, drawing two cards and discarding one."

He drew two cards, looked at his options, and slid one card into his graveyard.

"Dark Voltanis, attack his Motor Violence!"

The fallen angel lifted up its scepter, pointing it at the demonic looking machine…

When all of a sudden, none too subtly, a massive, demonic looking wheel fell from the sky, and landed hard on Dark Voltanis' back, enough to make the giant, lumbering beast to lurch forward and use it's claw like hand to keep itself from completely face planting into the ground.

Damian swerved out of the way out of mere shock of the giant protrusion slamming down on one of his best monsters, but he DID manage to get a good look at it and also remember WHAT it reminded him.

"Nightmare Wheel," he said after a moment of clarification, nodding, "Ya know, I should probably be more surprised by that…but I'm not."

"Heh, guess I can't surprise everyone," The duelist said with a grin that just seemed to SCREAM he knew more than he let on.

Damian narrowed his eyes and slid another monster into his disk. "Just for some extra insurance, I'll set this monster facedown and end my turn."

"Well, first, I'll draw my card, and since it's my standby phase, my Nightmare Wheel's gonna drain you out of 500 big ones…"

Damian winced as a purple aura surrounded him and Dark Voltanis, and he felt his Life Points slip away.

**(Damian: 6,300/SC: 4) - - - - - - - (?????: 7,400/SC: 6)**

"Heh, yeah, I probably should have mentioned," The duelist laughed, "Assault Wheel isn't just a high attacker, he can deal you damage through defense!"

"You're kidding!"

"Does THIS look like the shout of a kidder!? Assault Wheel, attack his defense position monster!"

The Assault Wheel revved its engines, and blasted forward, ramming into the defense monster. Dark Grepher appeared on the card, and exploded a moment later.

**(Damian: 5,800/SC: 5) - - - - - - - (?????: 7,400/SC: 6)**

"Of course, a level four trampeler needs some form of draw back, otherwise THAT wouldn't be fair now would it kid?" He asked, looking back at the duelist in question. "See, after Assault Wheel is done battling, he needs to take a break, in other words, he loses every single one of his attack points, and makes him one giant target."

Assault Wheel fell to 0 Attack points.

"However, that doesn't stop me from playing Speed Spell – Shift Down, cutting my Speed Counters down by six and drawing two cards."

He suddenly fell WAY behind Damian, which made the Shadowchaser in question look back at him in surprise, watching the duelist drawing two new cards. He looked at them, and laughed loudly.

"And I couldn't have asked for better! Rather than give you a big target, I'm gonna give you something to sweat about even MORE! I sacrifice Motor Violence and Assault Wheel, to summon Fiendish Engine Omega!"

Another massive monster appeared as the two bulkier machines vanished. This one was rather tall and imposing, standing at a tall eight feet with bulky armor that looked like, like it's motor counterparts, like an engine. The armor was sharper, and two large blades sat on it's wrists and two yellow eyes stared out at Damian from behind him. Exhaust pumped from the tail pipes on its back. (2,800/2,000)

_Oh come on! _Damian shouted. _I can't catch a break here! I think I can finally whale on him for a little bit, and he just brings out something stronger!_

"I'll end my turn, which automatically makes an Engine Token on my field in Attack, as per the effect of my Fiend Engine."

Beside the Fiendish Engine appeared what looked like another busted up muffler. (200/200)

"Draw!" Damian drew his card and looked at it. "I summon Shadow Priestess of Ohm!"

The black robbed spellcaster appeared, her robes fluttering as the wind blasted past her. (1,700/1,600)

"Ohm, attack his Engine Token!"

The Shadow Pristess lifted up her swift and snapped at the air, cracking the muffler and shattering it into pixels. The man grunted as he slowed down further, and Damian was catching speed fast.

**(Damian: 5,800/SC: 6) - - - - - - - (?????: 5,900/SC: 0)**

Damian looked at his field, and then at the remaining card in his hand.

_I COULD free Voltanis from that Nightmare Wheel right now and deal him 800 Points of damage as a result, but then I'll have only Ohm to protect me from a direct attack, and she's not the best in the attack point section, not to mention he could summon something and inflict even more pain. I'll use plan B._

"I'll set this one card facedown and end my turn." Damian said, placing the card onto his field."

The two duelists them made a sharp turn to the left on the long dirt road, and the duelist drew his card.

**(Damian: 5,300/SC: 7) - - - - - - - (?????: 5,900/SC: 1)**

"I summon Chaosrider Gustaph!"

A green skinned fiend appeared riding beside him, as it looked VERY similar to the Diskblade Rider, but with some differences, such as his bike being red and higher off the ground, the armor was more leather and a massive broadsword was on his side. (1,400/1,500)

"And like his counter part, I can remove cards in my graveyard to make him stronger. So I'll remove my Speed Spells from play, and give him a six hundred attack boost!"

The two Spell Cards slipped out of his graveyard and the Chaosrider revved his engines even harder, rising to 2,000 Attack.

"And while I'm giving my monsters Attack boosts, I think I'll do the same for my Fiendish Engine Omega! He gains a free 1,000 Attack Points!"

The massive machine let loose a loud roar that seemed EXTREMELY similar to that of a revving engine, and he rose to 3,800 Attack points.

"Chaosrider Gustaph, attack his Shadow Priestess with Revving Revenge!"

The Chaos Rider pulled a wheelie and dashed to the target in question, only to have Damian shout, "Trap Activate! Spiritual Art – Greed!"

The trap flipped up, and Ohm vanished into sparkeling motes of light.

"Since you don't even HAVE a card in your hand, I'll just go ahead and assume you don't HAVE any Spells to show me, which is just fine with me, because now I can draw two cards, and your attack is canceled!"

The man frowned and looked over at his Fiendish Engine, which was letting out more exhaust than ever before. "Well, what are you waiting for, an engraved invitation!? Kill his monster!"

The Engine roared loudly and rushed over to Voltanis, his arm blade swinging through the air and cut through Voltanis like it was hot butter. The dark fairy and the Nightmare Wheel trap exploded into pixels.

**(Damian: 4,800/SC: 6) - - - - - - - (?????: 5,900/SC: 1)**

"That ends my turn, which means since I used my Fiendish Engines effect, he self destructs."

The massive machine exploded into pixels, and Damian drew his card.

**(Damian: 4,800/SC: 7) - - - - - - - (?????: 5,900/SC: 2)**

Damian eyed his hand, and he laughed. "I couldn't have asked for better, honestly! I summon Dark Bug!"

The small reflective insect appeared in front of him. (100/100)

"And by summoning him-"

"Yes, yes, I know, you get a Level three tuner from your graveyard from your graveyard, I know how it works boy. And let me guess, you discarded it with your Angel Baton Spell FAR earlier, didn't you?"

"Well, gee, when you put it as subtley as THAT…kinda loses the spark."

Dark Resonator appeared in defense mode beside the small bug. (1,300/300)

"And since it worked so well for you, I'll play my own Speed Spell – Summon Speeder to summon Dark Crusader from my hand!"

The burning skulled, massive sword wielding dark monster appeared in front of him. 1,600/400

"Now, tune!" he commanded his three monsters. Dark Resonator grinned and banged his small hammer against his tuning fork as he, Dark Bug, and Dark Crusader flew into the air and burst into eight shimmering stars.

"Synchro Summon, Jalal the Dragonborn!"

True to his word, beside Damian, standing tall and proud appeared the heart and soul, not to mention the leader, of the Shadowchasers. (2,600/2,400)

The rider sneered under his helmet, and chuckled. _Bout damn time that goody goody showed up. _He thought to himself._ To think, it was just starting to get bored…_

"Jalal! Attack his Chaosrider Gustaph with Sword of the Ancients!"

The noble warrior unsheathed his blade, and he flew forward, swinging his sword before leaping back to Damian's side of the field. Chaosrider Gustaph exploded violently along with his motorcycle.

**(Damian: 4,800/SC: 7) - - - - - - - (?????: 5,300/SC: 2)**

Damian grinned back at his opponent and, being the cocky bastard he was, spun around so he was now riding backwards, a cocky grin on his lips. "So what are you gonna do now, buddy? I have my best monster on the field, and you got nothing! I suggest you give up now and make your defeat just a little bit less embarrassing!"

Jalal frowned at Damian, shaking his head at his antics. Damian spun around again to make sure he could see where he was going, and both eventually made it onto the high way…somehow.

The man drew his card and looked at what he had to offer.

**(Damian: 4,800/SC: 8) - - - - - - - (?????: 5,300/SC: 3)**

"I play Speed Spell – Shining Coat which, when I have three Speed Counters, allows me to bring back a Level four or lower Machine type from my graveyard."

A blue portal formed on his side of the field, and Assault Wheel blasted out, zooming to keep up with his owner. (2,300/0)

"Then, I'll set this one card facedown and end my turn."

Damian drew a card and looked at it. He looked out at the field, and frowned.

_Should I use Jalal's effect? _He pondered in his head. _Half of my life points is a pretty steep cost…and its not like there have been a lot of cards worth copying at this point…psh, I'm fine! Jalal's with me, and with him, I can't lose!_

"Jalal, attack his Assault Wheel!"

Jalal turned back around and flew at the machine, his sword hand in his hand.

"Hold it there boy! You're gonna pay for being so thick headed!" The man cackled insanely as he pointed to his facedown which flipped up, "Because you just triggered my Burning Rubber trap card! Since you attacked a Motor, Wheel, or Rider monster on my side of the field, I can automatically activate a Trap card from my graveyard!"

The Burning Rubber artwork, which depicted a Pursuit chaser in a cloud of dust, caused by a Diskblade Rider, changed into that of Sakuretsu Armor!

Damian's eyes widened. "Jalal, no, wait! Stop!"

It was far too late. Jalal continued his attack as the human shaped body of rusty, spiky armor appeared in front of the Ancient Warrior, and as Jalal swung his sword, exploded into fragments, and Jalal exploded with it.

Damian's eyes flared with rage, and he took his card in his hand and slammed it into his disk. "I'll be damned if I'm gonna let you beat Jalal that easily!"

The Spell in question appeared to be a boxer having been knocked out, but his spirit, which was glowing red, appeared above his unconscious body.

"I play Speed Spell – Zero Rebirth! Since I just lost Jalal to a card effect, I can bring him back at the cost of giving him 0 Attack as a result!"

Jalal appeared on the field again. He shook his head and held it, as if he had a headache, and knowing what he just went through, it wouldn't be surprised. (2,600/2,400) --- (0/2,400)

_Well, desperate times calls for desperate measures._ Damian thought.

"I play Jalal's effect and pay half of my Life Points to give him a Rune Counter."

His Life points dropped heavily, and a glowing rune appeared on Jalal's sword.

**(Damian: 2,400/SC: 8) - - - - - - - (?????: 5,300/SC: 3)**

"Which I'll then expend in order to reuse my Speed Spell – Angel Baton."

His Angel Baton spell card slipped out of his graveyard, and he drew two new cards. His eyes widened at one of them, and he slipped one of them into his graevayrd.

"One more card facedown will end my turn."

_I have to hope he won't summon another monster or worse…_ Damian thought. _Jalal's pretty damn vulnerable right now…especially with his attack at zero…oh man, what have I done? I just completely hindered myself because I thought I could end this quickly! And now it's got me at a huge disadvantage!_

The duelist drew a card, and he chuckled. "Well, sometimes if you can't beat them….join then! I summon the tuner monster, Cannon Wheel!"

A simple monster appeared, it looked like what it was name, a wheel, with two cannons on either side of its body, and two large exhaust pipes on its back. (500/500)

"Cannon Wheel, Assault Wheel! Synchro Summon!"

Cannon Wheel and Assault Wheel exploded into six shimmering stars and combined. The new monster was a heavily armored wheel like creature like Assault Wheel was, but with far more guns, more armor, and stick like arms, and its wheel was simply massive. (2,500/1,200)

"Say hello to Combat Wheel kid, the last monster you'll ever see! And by the way, since I used Cannon Wheel for a Synchro Summon, you lose 500 Life Points!"

Damian cried out and struggled to keep a hold of his D-Wheel, swerving all over the free way the two of them were still on.

**(Damian: 1,900/SC: 9) - - - - - - - (?????: 5,300/SC: 4)**

"Now Combat Wheel, let's end this thing!" He pointed at Jalal, "Attack his monster with Bullet Eruption!"

The massively weapons the machine had suddenly started up, and began to shoot their energy bullets and rockets at Jalal, getting closer and closer…

Thankfully, Necro Gardna appeared on the field and used his bulky armor to block everyone of the bullets aimed towards the leader of the Shadowchasers, and took the Rocket to the chest before finally exploding into pixels.

"Heh," Damian grinned back at him. "NOW whose being reckless?"

"Har, har, har," the duelist sneered from behind his helmet, "You make it seem like it really matters you managed to save your big brave leader, big whoop for you, I end my turn."

"Draw!" Damian drew a card and gestured. "First things first, Jalal, you're going to defense mode."

Jalal kneeled down and placed his sword into his lap.

"Then I'm going to use your effect AGAIN, cut my Life Points in half, and give you another Rune Counter."

Another glowing rune appeared on the sword.

**(Damian: 950/SC: 10) - - - - - - - (?????: 5,300/SC: 5)**

"And I'll expand THAT so I can copy my Spiritual Art – Greed in my graveyard and draw two more cards."

The trap slipped out of his graveyard, and Damian drew two more cards. His eyes glinted at the second card drew, and he pointed to his facedown.

"Now I play my trap Escape from the Dark Dimension, which lets me bring back my removed from play Necro Gardna to the field."

Necro Gardna appeared to the field in defense mode, curled up. (600/1,300)

"But don't worry, he's not sticking around long enough, because I sacrifice him to summon my ringer, Darklord Zerato!"

The armored Necro Gardna vanished, and in its place appeared the tall, dark skinned fallen fairy. (2,800/2,300)

The man's eyes widened, but aside from that he didn't seem to react. Like…he was expecting it, but he kept putting the show up.

"Darklord Zerato, attack Combat Wheel!"

Darklord Zerato flew forward and grabbed his jagged sword. Swinging it, Combat Wheel suddenly began to spark and ultimately exploded violently. The man grunted hard and struggled to gain control of Beowulf again, spinning in a small circle before he finally gained control again.

**(Damian: 950/SC: 10) - - - - - - - (?????: 5,000/SC: 5)**

Damian looked at the cards in his hand, and waved his other hand. "I end my turn, buddy."

The man drew his card silently and upon seeing his newly drawn card slipped it into his disk. A facedown card appeared, and the man ended his turn as quickly as he had started it.

Damian glared at the disappearing facedown card and drew his card._ That could either be a game turning facedown, or it could just be a bluff to psyche me out. If it's a bluff, I can take control of this duel a lot sooner than I hoped. If it's NOT a blue…well….shoot, decisions, decisions…_

"Are you going to make your move anytime this century boy, or am I going to die of horrible bone crimpling age?"

Damian glared at the man from over his shoulder, and pointed. "Zerato! Attack him directly and show him what happens when he coaxes me like that!"

Zerato nodded, but Jalal narrowed his eyes, looking over at Damian as if scolding him for his reckless behavior. Zerato rushed forward, and Damian held his breath…

The sword clashed into Beowulf, and the man screamed as he nearly lost control of Beowulf again, almost going over the edge of the free way. He managed to pull away, but his breathing was slow, and labored, as if panting in either relief or…anger.

**(Damian: 950/SC: 11) - - - - - - - (?????: 2,200/SC: 4)**

Damian sighed in relief. "Thank god…." He mumbled. He was worried he was going to lose Zerato now, or even worse, that trap could have been a multitude of things, ranging from Widespread Ruin, to something that could even destroy him this early like Dimension Wall or Magic Cylinder.

"Heh, so you got lucky, kid," The duelist said, with a grin that showed how he wasn't worried. "Let's see if I can get as lucky as you.

"Let's see, yeah," Damian grinned. "I end my turn! You better hope you get something, otherwise its your last!"

The duelist drew his card, and looked at it. He began to cackle long and loud, tilting his head back as his trap flipped up.

"I play the trap card, Synchro Spirits! By removing Combat Wheel from my graveyard, I can Special Summon to my field Assault Wheel and Wheel Cannon!"

The Synchro monster slipped out of his graveyard, and the heavily armored Assault Wheel, and the smaller, lesser armed Wheel Cannon appeared once again. (2,300/0) (500/500)

"Now I'll play my Speed Spell – Token Assembly! Since I have five speed counters, I can remove from play a monster in my graveyard that can generate tokens, and Special Summon as many tokens it could make on its own to as many empty monster zones on my side of the field! So I think Motor Shell has finished being useful at this point…"

The monster slid out of his graveyard and three busted up mufflers appeared on either side of the wheel monsters. (0/0) X 3

"And now, my dear Damian, I believe it's about time I finish this off," The man said sadly with a nod of his head. "Synchro Summon! Assault Wheel, Wheel Cannon and one of my Motor Part Tokens!"

Damian blinked as the three monsters flew into the air, and exploded into seven shimmering stars…

They formed into a massive silhouette above the two duelists. Damian paled even harder. No, no way. It couldn't be that monster. There was no possible way it could be that monster…

It was then Damian realized the man in question was laughing, CACKLING actually, his head now thrown back as if he had gone insane. "Brings back old memories, doesn't it Damian?!"

The laughing continued, a long, cold haughty _arrogant _laugh as the visor of the mysterious rider's helmet suddenly flipped up to reveal the face of a man Damian thought he would never see again as long as he lived. The rider was actually quite handsome, with an angular clean shaven face, long flowing black hair with reddish streaks that chose to come from the back of the helmet at that moment, and eyes with blood red irises that burned with an unquenchable fire.

"…V…Vladimir!?" Damian finally croaked out in disbelief, barely heard over the shriek of his monster.

"Good to see you haven't forgotten me Damian!" Vlad snapped him a mock salute and a toothy grin. "Trust me, I'd love to stay and catch up, but I've got a pretty busy week ahead of me, ya know, people to see, places to go, things to steal. Still, hardly seems fair to leave without giving you a parting gift…so…GOODBYE!"

Vlad gunned Beowulfs engine and turned a sharp turn, the dragon headed D-Wheel slamming into Damian's vehicle. The impact sent Damian skidding, and as he struggled to gain control he saw to his horror he was heading to the offshoot of the unfinished highway!

He slammed his foot on the brakes but it was too late. With a scream, the young Shadowchaser tumbled over the edge, falling to the ground below. The last thing he heard before blacking out was the triumphant cackle of Vlad's laugh, and the shriek of his monster…

…

Jerian looked up at that moment, causing Jess and Scraps to look up at him.

"Master Jerian?" Scraps asked.

"Something's happened…" he held his head. He gasped.

"Damian!"

…

**Motor Shell  
Type**: Machine/Effect/Dark  
**Attack/Defense**: 1,300/1800  
**Stars**: 4  
**Effect**: When this card is destroyed and sent to the graveyard, Special Summon one "Motor Parts Token" (Machine-Type/DARK/Level 1/ATK 0/DEF 0)

**Motor Violence  
Type**: Machine/Effect/Dark  
**Attack/Defense**: 2,100/1,200  
**Stars**: 6  
**Effect**: When this card is destroyed and sent to the graveyard, Special Summon two "Motor Part Tokens" (Machine-Type/Dark/Level 1/ATK 0/DEF 0)

_Note: Motor Shell and Motor Violence were first used by Bandit keith in the Yugioh Manga. All creative credit goes to the writers of that episode._

**Assault Wheel  
Type**: Machine/Effect/Earth  
**Attack/Defense**: 2,300/0  
**Stars**: 4  
**Effect**: When this card battles with a defense position monster and this cards ATK is higher than the DEF of the monster, inflict the difference as battle damage. During the end of the battle phase that this card attacked, until your next Standby Phase, this cards ATK becomes 0.

**Cannon Wheel  
Type**: Machine/Tuner/Earth  
**Attack/Defense**: 500/500  
**Stars**: 2  
**Effect**: When this card is used as a Synchro Material Monster for a Synchro Summon, inflict 500 damage to your opponent.

**Combat Wheel  
Type**: Machine/Synchro/Earth  
**Attack/Defense**: 2,500/1,200  
**Stars**: 6  
**Effect**: 1 Tuner + 1 or more non-tuner monsters

Activate by discarding one card in your hand. Until the End Phase, increase this cards ATK by an amount equal to half the total ATK of all other monsters you control. Additionally, your opponent cannot select another monster as an Attack Target. After this effect has been used and this card is destroyed, destroy all monsters you control. You can only use this effect on your opponents Battle Phase.

_Note: The Wheel monsters were first used by Syd in an Episode of Yugioh 5D's. All creative credit goes to the writers of that episode._

**Synchro Spirits  
Type**: Trap  
**Image**: Junk Synchron and White Magician Pikeru emerging from a portal as the ghostly form of Junk Warrior disappears into the background.  
**Effect**: Select one Synchro Monster in your graveyard and Remove it from Play. If all the monsters that were used in that Synchro Summon are in your graveyard, you can Special Summon them to your side of the field.

**Speed Spell – Zero Rebirth  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: A boxer having been knocked out, a ghostly form of him is rising up from his unconscious body.  
**Effect**: Activate only when you have 3 or More Speed Counters. Special Summon one monster destroyed by an opponent's card effect this turn in Attack Position. Its ATK becomes 0.

_Note: Synchro Spirits and Speed Spell – Zero Rebirth were first used by Yusei in the Anime Episode "Second Round Showdown part 2". All creative credit goes to the writers of that episode._

**Speed Spell – Summon Speeder  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: Dunames Dark Witch floating in front of a blue portal.  
**Effect**: Activate only when you have 4 or more Speed Counters. Special Summon one Level 4 or Lower monster from your hand. The monster Special Summoned by this effect cannot declare an attack this turn.

**Speed Spell – Shift Down  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: The image on this card was not clear.  
**Effect**: This card can only be activated by removing 6 of your Speed Counters. Draw 2 cards.

_Note: Speed Spell – Summon Speeder and Shift Down were first used by Mukuro in the anime episode, "Surprise, Surprise"_. _All creative credit goes to the writers of that episode._

**Hidden Nitro Burst  
Type**: Trap  
**Image**: Diskblade Rider strapping a large tank to the back of his Motorcycle  
**Effect**: Activate only when a "Motor", "Rider", or "Wheel" monster is selected as an attack Target by your opponents monster with a higher ATK than your monster. During the Damage step, double the ATK of the attack target.

_Note: Hidden Nitro Burst was created by Metal Overlord 2.0 and used with his permission. All creative credit goes to him._

**Speed Spell – Shining Coat  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: Prototype Machine King going through an assembly line.  
**Effect**: Activate only when you have 3 or more Speed Counters. Special Summon 1 MACHINE-Type monster from your graveyard. You cannot conduct your Battle Phase the turn you use this card.

**Speed Spell – Token Assembly  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: A multitude of monsters amongst token monsters, some noticeable ones being Arcana Force XVIII – The Moon, Cobra Jar and Fiendish Engine Omega  
**Effect**: Activate only when you have 5 or more Speed Counters. Remove from play 1 monster in your graveyard that has the effect of summoning tokens. Special Summon as many tokens as possible to your side of the field.

**Burning Rubber  
Type**: Trap  
**Image**: Pursuit Chaser in a cloud of smoke made from Diskblade Riders Motorcycle, the said monster vanishing in the distance  
**Effect**: Activate only when a "Motor", "Rider" or "Wheel" monster is selected an Attack Target. You may activate one Trap card from your graveyard. If the timing of said trap is no correct, remove all cards in your hand from play.

…

And not only has Damian reunited with Vlad, but he's been in a horrible accident. What does any of this mean? How does Vlad know who Damian is? More importantly, will Damian be okay? Find out next time when Jerian goes searching for Answers as to what they're dealing with in "the Inexperienced Spy", coming soon.


	8. The Inexperienced Spy

Disclaimer: I do not own the Yu-Gi-Oh! Franchise, nor do I intend to make a profit from this fanfiction. The premise does not belong to me, merely the characters that happen to appear in it.

It also appears that over the course of this story, I've been making quite a few mistakes. Now, I'm not to say I'm perfect, nor do I claim I wish to be. But I give all my faithful readers and CyberCommander my word that I will give my damndest to this story from now on, with little to no mistakes. Thank you for all your time and patience thus far.

…

The news of Damian's accident came quickly. Thankfully, Jerian's instincts of something wrong happening to Damian came quickly, and after hours upon hours of searching, they finally found him on the outskirts of town, completely beaten, battered, and his leg twisted at an odd angle, and to add insult to injury, his D-Wheel was on top of him and looked far from okay.

While Jerian and Scraps pushed his now completely totaled D-Wheel from his prone body, Jess, who was still with the group because they were at her house gathering supplies, called an ambulance.

Upon the vehicle arriving, they took the now battered and bruised Damian in and drove off to the hospital. Jerian used Jess' cellphone to call Angua, tell her the bad news and, when she got the chance, to meet them all at the hospital.

Angua burst through the doors of the hospital, her eyes wide as if she were still processing the information that Jerian had sent her. She looked around upon seeing a large, bulky, heavily dressed figure off to the side, sitting beside it were Jess and Jerian.

"How bad is it?" She asked as she rushed over to her fellow team mates and Jess. (She gave Jess a small growl as a result, which made the young girl blink in surprise)

"They're checking him out as we speak," Jerian said as he continued to looking forward, not even acknowledging the fact that not only were they in a hospital, but his best friend was the one being treated on, "They said that he didn't look that bad but…" he let out a small sigh, "I don't know…"

"Poor Master Damian," Scraps said, wringing his badly fitted gloves together in worry, which was a human action he'd made a note to try of later on, "I don't believe I've seen a leg like that bend in that direction."

"You're subtly is admirable, my friend," Jerian said.

Scraps bowed his head. "Please forgive me, Master Jerian, I'm not use to the human emotions you, Miss Angua, or even possibly Miss Jess would be use to. If Master Damian were to die-"

"Heaven forbidding," Jerian and Angua said almost immediately.

"Yes, yes, Heaven forbidding, but…I would not know how I would react. Damian is indeed close to me, but…I wouldn't know how to react if he were taken from me."

That moment, the Doctor came out, and Angua was immediately in front of him.

"Where's Damian, is he okay? Is he okay?" She asked urgently.

"Your friend is going to be fine," He said, taking a step back. "He's naturally banged up, being in an accident that bad, but other than that, he's going to be fine. He broke three ribs, and sprained his leg, but other than that, all we need to do is wait for him to wake up. You can see him if you want, but all I ask is you-"

Angua was gone from his site at the mentioning of seeing him.

"…Be quiet." He finally finished.

…

Jerian, Jess and Scraps finally found the room to see the bandaged up sight of Damian in the hospital bed, his eyes closed, bandages wrapped around his head, his breathing slow and his trenchcoat off. His eyes were closed, and he still looked pretty bad.

"My goodness." Scraps said, his optic sensors opening at the mere sight. "He looks even worse than when I found him." He moved carefully over to the side of his companion, and sat down, hearing the chair squeak under his weight.

"What could have done this to him?" Jess asked, her eyes looking over his prone body.

"Well, he's Damian," Jerian spoke up, looking down at his friend. "He's not the most friendly of the Shadowchasers, and as a result…well, sad to say, he's made a lot of enemies over the course of being one. So this is going to be quite a search if we don't even have a lead on anything."

Silence lifted over the ground as Scraps gently began to poke at Damian's prone body, hoping that it would be enough to wake him up.

"Jess, you and Scraps stay here and keep an eye on Damian," Angua said, standing up. "I'm going to go around the town and see what kind of information I can muster. Maybe SOMEONE saw SOMETHING…"

"I'll go too," Jerian spoke up. "In fact, I all ready have the perfect person in mind on who to interrogate…"

"Who would that be, Master Jerian?" Scraps spoke up.

Jerian sighed and adjusted his robes. "Never doubt a gremlin…"

…

"All right then, then have a good day, miss," The elderly man smiled as he waved to the younger woman, as she walked off, clutching her screaming five year old by the hand as they walked off. As soon as they were out of ear shot, the man sneered, showing a rather impressive line of teeth that seemed out of the ordinary on an elderly man such as himself. "Damned mundane, can tame beasts like tigers to run through hoops, but completely hopeless when it comes to frigging small children…"

The elderly man stood in the back of the Wal-Mart, around the electronics section. It wasn't that much of a busy day, so he wouldn't have to deal with the scum of humankind, as he put it, but this day would prove to be VERY busy in a moment.

"Good afternoon, Glitch."

Glitch screamed a little and spun around, grasping his chest through his Wal-Mart uniform, his yellow, reptilian eyes wide in surprise and his scaly tail wrapped around his leg in fright. He looked at the legendary duelist, and he let out a very loud sigh of relief. "Oh, Mister Jerian." He wiped away the sweat from his brow. "Ya scared me there."

"You seem rather jumpy today," Jerian said, skipping any form of pleasantry he would have given anyone else. "Any reason for that?"

"Hey, you'd be jumpy too," He said, narrowing his eyes at the blind samurai, "If you found out there was something going on in the peaceful city of LA, especially after what happened to Damian."

"And how did YOU know what happened to Damian?" the Shadowchaser crossed his arms. "We didn't even find him until not too long ago."

The Gremlin grinned and tapped his head. "I'm a Gremlin, and I can be pretty sneaky and spry when I want to be." He cackled and leaned on the counter, tapping his long, broken fingernails on the counter. "All forms of information, be it little or big, and I'll be able to find it, lickity-split." He snapped his fingers to emphasis this.

Jerian frowned down at him. See, Damian and Jerian were a lot different. Damian was well accustomed cavorting with small time thieves like Glitch, just so long as he managed to get the information that he was looking for. In a sense, Damian was friends with quite a few of the shadier Shadows of Los Angeles.

Jerian, on the other hand, was FAR more honor-bound than Damian. He was also not above cavorting with Glitches kind, but that did not mean he had to do it with a smile on his face. In fact, he tried to avoid contact with anything like this whenever the opportunity would rise. But, as Damian stated, sometimes you needed to suck up your pride and just dive it, because that's be the only way to get answers.

"Look," Jerian finally spoke, "I'm just going to skip all forms of pleasentries and just get right down to it, Glitch." He kneeled in front of the smaller Shadow. "you know more than you're letting on, and whatever you know I want to know."

Glitch laughed a little and held up his hand. "You got nothing on me, Shadowchaser. How do you even know I would KNOW anything about what happened to Damian?"

He turned around and punched something into the Cash Register.

"Especially if Vlad found out I spilled the beans, I'd never see the light of day again."

He suddenly yelped as he was picked up by the ears, one of his most sensitive parts and into the air.

"Who is Vlad?" Jerian asked.

"What the…How did you hear me!?" Glitch cried out in surprise.

"Being blind, I managed to enhance my other senses, my hearing included. Now spill, Glitch. Who, is, Vlad?"

"Let go of my ears, ya psycho!" He wriggled out of his grip. He whimpered and rubbed his ears slowly, before glaring at his direction. "Fine, looks like I spoke a little too soon. If you want my information…" he looked around. "Just follow me."

He scampered off, looking around to make sure no one was following him. Jerian followed behind him.

…

"And here we are!" Glitch opened the door and scampered in.

"Are we on the roof?" Jerian asked as he walked through the door, his head moving from left to right as if scanning the area.

"Yep!" Glitch laughed as he scampered to the other side. "Ya see, this is how it's gonna work." He grinned and crossed his arms. "I may know some things you may wanna know, but I can be pretty tight lipped unless stated otherwise. See, we're gonna duel…"

"I find that simply shocking," Jerian said sarcastically. "A duel between us, where I get the information if I win the duel. I find that simply amazing and really creative."

Glitch sneered a little bit and spit off to the side. "Yeah, yeah, whatever, if you Shadowchasers didn't make Duel Monsters your main point of solving issues…"

"Whatever." Jerian said as he reached behind him, and grasped his Duel Disk. "What must be done be done. If I win, I get any information on what you know about Damian and this Vlad character."

"And if I win, then I get whatever information about anything I want." He grinned.

He reached behind him and pulled out a duel disk which looked like a combination between the Battle City duel disk, and a Duel Academy Duel disk and slipped it onto his otherwise thin wrist.

"Then let's see what the champion has to offer!"

Jerian said nothing and activated his own duel disk.

"Let's duel!" both shouted.

**(Jerian: 8,000) - - - - - - - (Glitch: 8,000)**

"I'll make the first move," Jerian said as he drew his card and added it to the rest of his hand. "And I'll start the duel off by summon Jain, Lightsworn Paladin in Attack mode."

The white haired, white armored warrior appeared, swinging her blade before settling down on the ground. (1,800/1,200)

"Then, I set two cards facedown, and end my turn, which means Jain mills two cards from my deck."

Two cards appeared behind Jain, and Jerian grabbed the top two cards of his deck and slipped them into his graveyard.

"Draw!" Glitch snatched the card off his deck and looked at it, clutching it between his grubby fingers. "While it might not be the strongest monster, I still like it! I summon Shuttleroid in attack mode!"

A loud whooshing sound erupted around the two duelists, and in front of him appeared a Space Shuttle, but with two humanoid on the windshield. (1,000/1,200)

Glitch plucked three cards out of his hand and jammed them into his makeshift Duel Disk, and three cards appeared behind Shuttleroid. "To keep the champion guessing, I'll set these three cards facedown and end my turn!"

Jerian drew a card and frowned. He looked at his hand. _Well, it's a step in the right direction, I must say, though it will be a slow one…_

"I summon Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress in attack mode."

With a shimmer of yellow light, the straight black haired Lyla appeared, holding up a staff in her right hand, and a form fitting white robe. (1,700/200)

"Then I use her effect and switch her to defense mode, which destroys one Trap on your side of the field."

He pointed to the face down in the middle.

"I'll destroy that one."

Lyla kneeled down and pointed at the facedown card. A beam of white light blasted the facedown apart.

Glitch cackled as he pulled the card out and showed him. "I couldn't have asked for better! You just destroyed my Wonder Garage, which allows me to summon a roid monster from my hand! So I'll summon Gyroid in defense mode!"

A blue colored helicopter with eyes for the windshield and wheels for the arms appeaeared, crossing its arms in front of it. (1,000/1,000)

Jerian frowned. "Very well then, Jain, attack Shuttleroid!"

Jain swung her blade, and rushed forward. Suddenly, Shuttleroids engines erupted and it flew into the air, disappearing into the sky.

"When you attack Shuttleroid, I can use his effect and remove him from play, and what's even better, it's legal for me to activate my facedown card, Supercharge, which lets me draw two cards, since you declared an attack, albeit a failed one, on my roid monster."

He drew two cards, and Jerian grumbled.

"Fine, I'll end my turn. Which means I now lose a total of five cards."

He took five cards from the top of his deck, and discarded them to the graveyard.

Glitch drew his card, and gestured. The sound of an approaching something was heard, and suddenly Jerian gasped as the ghostly form of the Shuttleroid flew through his body, and he hugged himself, gritting his teeth.

"Yep, Shuttleroid is one of the stronger of my Roids effect wise! By removing him from play, during the next Standby Phase, I can not only bring him back, but deal you one thousand points of damage!"

**(Jerian: 7,000) - - - - - - - (Glitch: 8,000)**

"And now to bring out the heavy hitters! I sacrifice Shuttleroid and Gyroid to summon the Armoroid!"

While most Roid-Machine monsters resembled a vehicle of some sort, this one seemed to be a transformed version of a vehicle. A space Shuttle folded out of itself, looking like a large fighter robot, complete with arms, legs, and a head. (2,700/2,000)

Jerian took a step back, looking up at the giant mechanized fighter.

"And guess what, Mr. Champion? Since I sacrificed Roid monsters to summon this thing, all Spells and Traps on the field are removed from play."

Armoroid began to glow until both of Jerians facedowns, and Glitches remaining facedown vanished from view.

"Now, Armoroid attack his Jain with your Armor Barrage!"

Armoroid lifted its arm into the air and pointed it at Jain, who took a step back in worry. The arm folded back to reveal a hidden, impressive looking cannon. It charged up its energy and fired, blowing Jain into atoms.

**(Jerian: 6,100) - - - - - - - (Glitch: 8,000)**

Glitch chuckled deviously, eyes glinting mischeviously as he licked his teeth. "And so it looks like I'm in the lead!" he cackled, despite the fact that Jerian did not move, "I'll end my turn!"

"Draw."

Jerian drew his card, slid it into the disk.

"I'll set this card facedown…"

A defense position monster appeared beside the still kneeling Lyla.

"Set one card facedown…"

A facedown card appeared behind Lyla.

"And end my turn, which means I must discard three cards from my deck."

He plucked off the three cards and glanced at them, at least it looked like he did.

"And one of the cards happens to be Wulf, Lightsworn Beast, which, when discarded from the grave, is automatically summoned to the field. Of course, I'll place him in defense mode."

In a swirling portal of light, the tall wolf man wielding the staff appeared in front of him, kneeling down as well. (2,100/300)

Glitch grinned and drew his card. "Well, well, well, it looks like the mighty champion is running scared! And I expected better from a champion like yourself! I summon Strikeroid in Attack Mode!"

A large fighter jet appeared, this one with a cartoonish face, two burning thrusters keeping it in the air, and two wheels on the underside. (1,600/400)

"Strikeroid, attack Wulf!"

Strikeroid opened up a compartment on the underside and shot a streaming missile at the beast-warrior. It struck the furry warrior, and exploded on contact.

"Armoroid, attack his facedown defense position!" Glitch cackled, throwing a punch and getting FAR too into it than he probably should have been, knowing his current position.

The arm folded back and pointed at the facedown defense position. Jerian smirked.

On the card appeared a wolf with silver fur, and large, shining teeth. It let out a howl. (200/100)

Glitch yelped and jumped back. "That-That's your Ryko!"

"I see my cards seem to have acquired a reputation." Jerian grinned. "Ryko being one of my most deadly. When flipped face up, one card on the field is automatically destroyed!"

He pointed up at the giant machine.

"And I choose Armoroid!"

Ryko howled loud and rushed over to the machine at breakneck speeds, before launching into the air and colliding with Armoroids chest. Both Ryko and Armoroid exploded in a bright, explosive flash of light.

Glitch snarled, and noticed Jerian grabbing the top three cards.

"However, to compensate for such a powerful effect, I lose three cards."

He discarded the three cards to the grave.

"Lucky shot," Glitch snarled, sliding a card into his disk. "I set one more card facedown and end my turn."

Jerian drew his card and slid it into the field. "I summon Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner!"

In a flash of yellow light, the giggling, tanned Lightsworn appeared in front of him, grinning and giving Glitch a peace sign. (1,000/1,000)

"Now, I can discard this card…" Jerian discarded a card from his hand to the grave, "And now I get a Lightsworn from my grave to the field now. And I'll choose Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior."

With a loud battle cry, the blue, spiky haired Lightsworn with the staff axe appeared. (1,850/1,300)

"Then I switch Lyla to attack position…" he said, as Lyla rose up. "Now! Lyla, attack Strikeroid!"

Before the attack was launched, Glitch swiftly gestured to his facedown card, revealing a spell card called Support Mission.

"Since you just selected one of my Roid machines as an attack target, I can take another Roid from my deck and add it into my hand!"

A card slid out of his graveyard, and he grinned, flipping it around.

"I think Turboroid would be a good idea!"

Adding it to his hand, he cried out and took a step back as Strikeroid was struck by the blow and exploded into scrap. He growled and gestured, taking the Strikeroid back to his hand.

"And I'll use my monsters effect to pay 800 Life Points, and add Strikeroid back to my hand!"

Jerian narrowed his eyes. "Eight hundred life points is quite a steep fee for a monster that can't even beat two of my own…"

Glitch grinned a little. _What this idiot doesn't know is I have two of my components to summon one of my greatest monsters in my deck, cards which everyone who uses Vehicroids wish they had! And next turn…_He chuckled darkly, his eyes gleaming sinisterly, _I'll get the third component…no problem…_

"Oh well, I was never one to pass up such an opportunity. Garoth, Lumina, attack him directly!"

The next two seconds were chaotic. While Lumina didn't move from her spot and rather shot a blast of holy light from her hands, Garoth charged head first towards Glitch. So not only did he get hit in the chest with a large axe, he got hit in the face with a good portion of light. He screamed and fell on his back.

**(Jerian: 6,100) - - - - - - - (Glitch: 4,250)**

"Lucky…shot…I can…guarantee it'll be your last!" Glitch shouted as he stood up and panted, not bothering to lift himself up at this point. "Now finish your turn!"

"Very well," Jerian said, "I end my turn, which shall hurt my deck quite a bit. I'll first discard three cards for Lyla's effect…"

He took three cards off his deck, and discarded them.

"Then, two more for Garoth's effect."

He took the two cards and looked at them, and discarded them.

"And as it turns out, both of them happened to be Lightsworn Monsters, so I'll draw an additional two cards."

He drew two cards.

"Then, I'll discard another three for Lumina's effect."

He discarded three more cards.

"Then another two for Garoth…"

He discarded another two.

"And only one seemed to be a Lightsworn this time, so I can only draw one card…"

He made the draw regardless.

Glitch gestured and placed his fingers over the top card of his deck. However, unbeknownst to Jerian, a small, mechanical arm from the sleeve of his uniform shot out, holding a duel monsters card. It slid the card it was holding onto the top of Glitches deck, and under his claws. Not missing a beat, he drew the card.

_That Bandit Keith goon might not have been that much of a good duelist, but I'll be damned if he didn't know how way around cheating!_

However, unbeknownst to Glitch, Jerian felt something off…he frowned a little bit and waited.

"And now the beat down shall begin by summoning one of my best monsters!"

"I'm not too worried about Super Vehicroid – Jumbo Drill or Stealth Union." Jerian commented.

Glitch laughed, which made Jerian blink in surprise. "THOSE Upstarts? Heh, I happen to have a small collection of Fusion Roids that make those two look completely pointless! And allow me to introduce you to the first, which can only be summoned to the field when I discard Stealthroid, Turboroid, and Strikeroid from my hand…"

He slid the three monsters into his graveyard, and a new monster began to form in front of him. The monster that appeared was a combination between a fighter jet and a fighting robot, silver metal plating, and a pointed head. Bomber jet wings were attached to its back. It finally landed and posed. (2,600/1,800)

"Meet one of the prides of my decks, Solidroid Alpha!"

Jerian frowned and tilted his head as if to look up at the monster. "I fail to see how it's better than Jumbo Drill…"

Glitch laughed. "Well what good would a three combination monster be without a good effect? By summoning Solidroid Alpha, I can increase his attack by the same amount of a monster on your side of the field!"

Garoth and Solidroid Alpha glowed, and Solidroid suddenly rose to 4,450 Attack Points.

"And that attack increase remains so long as its on the field! Solidroid Alpha, attack Lumina!"

The robot lifted up its arm and fired a missile from the hidden compartment in its arm. It struck the summoner, who screamed in agony before exploding into pixels.

**(Jerian: 2,650) - - - - - - - (Glitch: 4,250)**

"That ends my turn, Jerian," Glitch said, chuckling wildly.

Jerian frowned and drew a card. He showed the spell card. "I play Pot of Avarice, returning five monsters to my deck from the graveyard."

Ryko, Lumina, Ehren, Jain and Wulf slid out of his graveyard. Shuffeling them back to his deck, he drew two additional cards. He frowned noticing one of the new cards to be his Wulf.

"Then I play Solar Recharge, discarding one of my Lightsworns from my hand to the grave, drawing two cards, and then discarding two cards from my deck."

He swiftly discarded Wulf, then drew two new cards before discarding two of his cards.

He smirked a little and waved his hand. "I switch Lyla and Garoth to defense mode, and set one more monster in defense position. That ends my turn."

A new monster appeared beside Lyla and Garoth, both who kneeled down.

Glitch drew his card and slipped it in. "Time to go on the offense again. I summon Tankroid in attack mode."

A large army tank with a cartoonish face appeared, aiming its turret towards Jerian.

"Tankroid, attack Lyla!"

Tankroid aimed its turret and fires a massive shell, which struck the Spellcaster and blew her into pixels.

"Solidroid Alpha, attack Garoth!"

Another missile was fired from the wrist of the giant machine and struck the warrior, blowing it into pixels.

"Come on, Jerry, this s a little bit more than target practice!" Glitch taunted. "Come on, let's see the champion show me what he's made of!"

Jerian drew his card and smirked upon noticing what it was. He gestured.

"I first flip up my facedown monster, whom I'm sure you're quite familiar with, Ryko!"

The facedown flipped up, and with a loud snarl, the white haired wolf appeared. (200/1000

"Ryko, I invoke your effect and destroy Solidroid Alpha!"

Ryko howled and from his maw appeared a ball of yellow light. It shot it; striking the roid-machine and making it explode into pixels.

"Then, I'll sacrifice Ryko to summon to the field Celestia, Lightsworn Angel!"

Ryko floated into the air, where he transformed into a ball of glowing light. From the light appeared the blue haired, white winged angel. (2,300/200)

"And since I sacrificed a Lightsworn to summon her to the field, I can now discard the top four cards of my deck to the grave." He took the four cards and slid them into his graveyard. "I can destroy up to two of your cards, but I'll only destroy one: Your Tankroid."

Celestia pointed a hand at Tankroid, and suddenly, abruptly, the machine erupted into small parts of machinery.

Glitch yelped in surprise at the suddenness of the explosion, but he grit his teeth, taking a moment to draw a card.

"Destroying Tankroid comes at a price for you, because I get to draw a card now."

"You're oing to need all the help you can get. Celestia, attack him directly!" Jerian commanded.

Celestia pointed her staff at Glitch and fired the massive blast of light from her weapon of choice. The gremlin screamed loudly and was thrown back, hitting the edge of the roof with a loud thud, and slumped over, his body smoking and a groan escaping his spiky mouth.

**(Jerian: 2,650) - - - - - - - (Glitch: 1,950)**

"Lousy…stinking…ow…' Glitch picked himself off the ground, holding his chest.

"To end my turn, I'll set these two cards facedown."

Two cards appeared behind Celestia.

"It's your move."

"Draw!" Glitch shouted, drawing his card and looking at the Four cards in his hand. He gestured. "Now I summon the second of my monsters! I remove Turboroid, Stealthroid, and Strikeroid from play to Special Summon the second Solidroid, Beta!"

A tall robot appeared in front of Glitch, similar to Alpha, but rather than have the wings on the back, the wings were the arms, painted midnight black. A machine gun was embedded in the chest. (2,500/1,900)

"Impressive…" Jerian said, crossing his arm. "And I'll bet it also has a very impressive ability, no?"

"Give the man a prize!" Glitch laughed, "By summoning Solidroid Beta, one monster on your side of the field is destroyed automatically."

Celestia suddenly exploded into pixels.

"Solidroid Beta, attack him directly!"

_Okay, decision time. _Jerian thought in his head as the machine gun began to heat up. _If I use my facedown card, I can lessen the damage, but I'd lose all chances of beating this thing._ Jerian thought.

He was silent for a moment, and sighed, bracing himself.

_No pain, no gain, they always say._

He grunted and was pushed back by the barrage of bullets, gritting his teeth as the attack struck him over and over and over.

**(Jerian: 150) - - - - - - - (Glitch: 1,950)**

Glitch cackled and slapped a clawed hand against his knee. "I can't believe it! I'm gonna beat the legendary Champion! This is amazing!"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Jerian said as he rose up to his full height, "I don't intend to lose this day, or at all in the enar future."

"Cocky, aren't you?" Glitch asked, frowning at Jerian and taking two cards from his hand. "I set two cards facedown and end my turn. Do your worst."

"You're going to regret that challenge," Jerian said, drawing his card and looking at his current hand. "I play my trap card, The Transmigration Prophecy."

The trap card lifted up.

"Now I'm allowed to return two cards from either graveyard back to the deck. I'll do so with two of my own cards."

Garoth and a monster Glitch couldn't see slid out of his graveyard. Jerian took them and added them back to his current deck, adding up to five cards.

"Then, I play Glorious Illusion to bring back Jain."

The trap flipped face up, and Jain appeared. (1,800/1,200)

"But she isn't going to stay for long, because I offer her for Gragonith, Lightsworn Dragon!"

Jain vanished into pixels, and a new, massive monster appeared. A large dragon with white scales and long blonde mane that traveled down its back, a glowing, silver horn on its back, and massive, white feathered wings. (2,000/1,600)

"There's a reason he's one of my strongest monsters, you know," Jerian said as the dragon floated down and landed down beside Jerian, glowing bright. "Because for every different named Lightsworn in my graveyard, he gains 300 Attack points. And I have eleven right now!"

Gragonith began to glow. (2,000/1,600) --- (5,300/4,900)

"Gragonith, destroy Solidroid Beta and end this duel!"

Gragonith began to roar and shot a burst of fire at the monster.

Glitch pointed to his facedown. "I'll play my trap card, Damage Insurance. This gives me Life Points equal to half the damage I would take when you're attacking a Roid monster!"

He began to glow as the attack still struck the Solidroid Beta. It let out a loud mechanical whine, and exploded into parts.

**(Jerian: 150) - - - - - - - (Glitch: 550)**

"Down to the, Glitch," Jerian said, crossing his arms. "Either you get some sort of miracle draw, or I win. Because you can't hide in defense mode, Gragonith will damage you through defense."

_Lucky for me, I don't need to hide in defense mode!_ Glitch grinned a little bit, his mechanical little arm whirring to life again, holding a different card this time.

" I'll set two cards facedown, and I'll end my turn." Jerian said. "And this requires me to discard another four cards from my deck."

He discarded four cards, and Gragonith rose to 5,600.

_So I have the one monster still in my deck._ Jerian thought as he looked at the lone, one card in his hand. _With any luck I won't need it, but should worse come to worse…_

Glitch placed his claws over his card, and the small arm shot out and placed the new card on top, which Glitch drew.

"I'll play Book of Moon!" Glitch shouted, sliding the card into the disk. "This switches your giant eyesore into facedown defense position!"

Gragonith vanished into a facedown card.

"And then I play Return from the Different Dimension!" Glitches remaining facedown card flipped up, and a swirling multicolored vortex appeared.

Strikeroid (1,600/400), Stealthroid (1,200/0) and Turboroid (1,400/1,800) appeared in front of him.

"And then I summon the BEST of my monsters! I remove all three of my monsters from play, and summon Solidroid Gamma!"

The biggest robot of the bunch appeared in front of him, this one more humanoid. Its arms were giant jet turbines, and on the shoulders were even more turbines. The thing landed, the said turbines starting up. (2,700/2,000)

"And he's the best one of the bunch for a reason!" Glitch gloated, "When summoned to the field, every facedown card you have is blown away!"

Gamma gestured, and all of its engines pointed at the field, blowing it away as tornados erupted from the machine and destroyed all of the facedowns, filling Jerian's field with shattered pixels.

"You have nothing to protect you with anymore! Solidroid Gamma, attack him directly!"

Solidroid lifted up his arms, firing another massive tornado at the blind swordsman. He was cackling at this point. "I've won! I've won! I'm the new champion!"

His celebration was short lived when one of Damian's most used cards appeared in front of him, Necro Gardna, appeared and took the blow from the tornado, finally disappearing.

Jerian slid his hand into his pocket in a bored fashion. "I didn't become the Champion just sitting here and being wide open. No matter what you can throw at me, I can find some way to bounce back."

Glitch sneered and crossed his arms. "It doesn't even matter! You only have one card in your deck, which I seriously doubt is Judgment Dragon, and none of your other monsters come close to winning! And even then, that's the last card in your deck. All I have to do is wait one more turn, and you'll deck out." He grinned. "Finish up, Jerry. I'm getting bored."

Jerian made no expression of worry, and drew the card. He slid it into his field. "I summon Shire, Lightsworn Spirit."

A woman appeared in front of him, with golden blonde hair and tight fitting white robes. In her hand was a staff with a butterfly on the tip of the staff. On her back was two wings of energy in the shape of butterfly wings on her back. (400/1,400)

Glitch cocked an eyebrow. "What the…THAT'S the best you can do?!" Glitch laughed. "Ha! And here I thought you actually had a clever idea! I mean, a monster with…four…thousand…attack points?! WHAT!?"

It was true. Shire was standing there, and had somehow risen to 4,000 Attack Points.

"Shire is the smaller equivalent to Gragonith," Jerian said, his hand in his pocket. "300 Attack Points for every different named Lightsworn in the graveyard. Now, I believe I was going to end this. Shire, attack Solidroid Gamma!"

Shire smiled and spun around, pointing her staff at the large machine. A larger blast of energy struck the machine, and pierced the chest of the monster. Nothing happened, and abruptly, he exploded.

**(Jerian: 150) - - - - - - (Glitch: 0)**

"Eh…well…eheh…" Glitch grinned as he deactivated his duel disk. "See, when I meant all that-YIPE!"

Jerians sword swiped the air in front of him with his blade, causing his uniform to rip up to the arm. The mechanical arm suddenly beeped and fell apart. His eyes widened.

"You don't think I didn't hear that?" Jerian asked, sheathing his sword again. "My hearing was enhanced, remember? That thing sounded like a car engine.

"Hey, look, Jerry, come on, let's talk about this!" Glitch chuckled nervously. "Come on! I mean…"

He yelped again as Jerian grabbed him by the ears again, and lifted him off his feet.

"All right! All right! I'll sing!" Glitch shouted and cursed in what sounded like a demon language. "Giovanni wasn't just some two bit thug who figured out how to counterfeit cards, he used to be an arms dealer, real heavy hitter in the business too. But when things started to quiet down where he was dealing, he nearly went bankrupt."

"Giovanni's dead now, and what does he have to do with whoever attacked Damian?" Jerian demanded, tightening his grip.

Glitch yowled and grit his teeth. "I'm GETTING to it!" He shouted angrily. "Giovanni got his fat hauled out of the fire when some bigshot Shadow began funding him to start dealing counterfeit cards. There's no Duel monsters version of the Geneva Convention, so it was a lot safer and more reliable way to make money for Giovanni. But there was a catch! He had to serve as a supplier for all these nutjobs this guy was working with! Whenever they needed a rare card, a deck change or a common discount bargain bin card, he paid through the nose to get it for them for free, otherwise his funds would dry up faster than the Sahara desert."

"So why was he killed if he's been supplying this group with any cards they might need?" Jerian asked, his anger turning into concern. If Glitch was telling the truth, whoever was behind the Skin-walker attack and Damian's accident was armed to the teeth with cards even Pro-League duelists would want to get their hands on.

"How the hell should I know?" Glitch asked. He screamed in agony as Jerian bounced him up and down by the ears like a yo-yo, and he shrieked. "Okay! Okay! When that guy you dueled the other day used Dark Strike Fighter, Giovanni's business partner knew it would send the authorities for someone who had the means to counterfeit cards! So he gave Giovanni an ultimatum: Either bring Damian in Alive or pay back the guy all the money he owed him before they were caught, otherwise he'd be sleeping with the fishes in the LA bay!"

"So that was why the Skin-Walker killed him, Giovanni outlived his usefulness to his business partner, so he had him killed before any trails could be led back to him," Jerian mused, "But who was this group he was supplying to?"

"All I know is they call themselves the Sons of Tyranny, and they are NOT kidding around!" Glitch exclaimed. "One of them's busted from a maximum Security Shadowchaser insane Asylum, two of them are high level class of Undead, one of thems a big shot from Asia with some friends in REALLY high places, and the last guy…" Glitch shuddered. "I've seen the worst scum off humanity and the worst crooks and kills Shadowkind can produce, but Vlad's gotta take the cake. And take that from a Shadow who works the graveyard shift at Wal-Mart electronics section, that's saying a LOT.

"Guy acts like he's got ice water in his veins, but they say when he DOES get angry, people don't just disappear, the entire neighborhood goes up in flames!"

Jerian nodded a little bit and let Glitch fall to the ground with a dull thud. Ignoring the gremlin's pitiful squeak of pain, he nodded.

"The Sons of Tyranny." He nodded slowly, letting out a sigh. "Right. I'll need to remember that." He began to walk towards the door again. "I hope Angua got as much information as I did…"

He grabbed the handle of the door, and froze. He looked over his shoulder, sensing something. He paused for a moment, and shook his head, opening the door and disappearing down the stairwell.

The shadowy being narrowed its eyes as it was Jerian from a distance.

Soon enough…soon enough…

…

**Strikeroid  
Type**: Machine/Effect/Wind  
**Attack/Defense**: 1,600/400  
**Stars**: 4  
**Effect**: When this card is destroyed in battle and sent to the graveyard, you can pay 800 Life Points to add this card to your hand.

**Turboroid  
Type**: Machine/Wind  
**Attack/Defense**: 1,400/1,800  
**Stars**: 4  
**Flavor Text**: Unknown.

**Tankroid  
Type**: Machine/Effect/Earth  
**Attack/Defense**: 1,500/1,900  
**Stars**: 4  
**Effect**: When this card on your side of the field is destroyed and sent to the graveyard, draw 1 card.

**Support Mission  
Type**: Spell/Quick-Play  
**Image**: A jet flying off a landing bay in the middle of the ocean.  
**Effect**: When a Roid-Type machine monster is selected as an attack target, add one Roid-Machine type monster from your deck to your hand.

**Solidroid ά  
Type**: Machine/Effect/Fusion/Wind  
**Attack/Defense**: 2,600/1,700  
**Stars**: 7  
**Effect**: Stealthroid + Turboroid + Strikeroid  
This card can only be Special Summoned from your Extra Deck by discarding the above cards from your hand. (You do not use "Polymerization") During the turn in which this card was Special Summoned, you can increase the Original ATK of this card by the ATK of one monster your opponent controls.

**Solidroid β  
Type**: Machine/Effect/Fusion/Wind  
**Attack/Defense**: 2,500/1,900  
**Stars**: 7  
**Effect**: Stealthroid + Turboroid + Strikeroid  
This card can only be Special Summoned from your Extra Deck by removing from play the above cards from you graveyard. (You do not use "Polymerization") When this card is Special Summoned, destroy one monster your opponent controls.

**Solidroid γ  
Type**: Machine/Effect/Fusion/Wind  
**Attack/Defense**: 2,700/2,000  
Stars: 7  
**Effect**: Stealthroid + Turboroid + Strikeroid  
This card can only be Special Summoned from your Extra Deck by removing from play the above cards you control. (You do not use "Polymerization") When this card is Special Summoned, destroy all facedown card your opponent controls.

_Note: The above 7 cards were first used by Sho in the Yugioh GX Manga. All creative credit goes to the writers of that episode._

**Damage Insurance  
Type**: Trap  
**Image**: Kozaky holding up a piece of paper to a Hysteric fairy, pointing to a beat up looking Decoyroid.  
**Effect**: When your opponent declares an attack on one of your Roid-Machine type monsters, before damage calculation, increase your Life Points equal to half the damage you would have taken from battle.

…

Jerian's gotten quite a few answers he's been looking for, but indeed, what luck has Angua been having? She's been having FAR better luck, she's even cornered an ex-member of the Sons of Tyranny themselves. Can she defeat him, especially with her new deck and going into her Lycan transformation? Find out next time in "Wild Nature's Release", coming soon.


	9. Wild Natures Release

Disclaimer: I do not own the Yu-Gi-Oh! Franchise, nor do I intend to make a profit from this fanfiction. The premise does not belong to me, merely the characters that happen to appear in it.f

I'd also like to thank my friend, Master of the Library for allowing me to use a character you see in this chapter. Thanks mate.

…

If Angua was going to get any answers about anything, then she was going to need to go somewhere where even Jerian and Damian were a little reluctant to go.

Angua stared forward, still in her police uniform, as her D-Wheel went down a rather dark and ominous looking alleyway, which was large enough for her D-Wheel to fit through. She eased around the corner, and stopped just outside the back wall of the building, hopped off, and approached a large, steel door that seemed to lead to the back room.

She knocked on it a few times, waiting patiently.

The slot that was a good foot above eye level suddenly opened, and a pair of deep, red demonic eyes suddenly appeared. The eyes looked down until he found Angua, and they narrowed.

Nothing really happened, and Angua flipped her visor up, revealing her eyes to the eyes.

They widened for a moment, and the visor slammed shut. A loud clang was heard from the other side, and the large door opened.

"Evening Angua," Boomed the larger Minotaur bodyguard near the door, sweeping a large, muscled hand over the bar in question.

The bar was chaotic, almost what some would think of a tavern from the old west: Loud, obnoxious, and filled with the shiftiest looking people one would imagine.

As far as the eye could see, there were shadows of all kinds, which was quite a sight in a place like this. There were Orcs were drinking and chatting with gnomes, Harpies laughing with Minotaurs, almost as if they didn't have a single care in the world.

It actually made Angua smile a little bit. It was amazing that, despite how things were going in the world, what with the war, economical issues, and what not, it was still heartwarming to see shadows, some of the most vicious ones no less.

But she didn't come here to comment on the sincerity of most of the shadows. Instead, she walked up to the bar, where a large, imposing beast was currently drying out a mug. He was rather imposing looking, and looked NOTHING, with rocky, scaly looking skin, grayish brown skin, and large, stony black spades sticking from its back, its mouth a beak and its eye red. In fact, one could say it looked like a human that happened to be mixed with that of a Stegosaurus. This being was known as a Saurial, a humanoid dinosaur that occasionally lived among its own kind, but have been known to branch out.

"Hey mack," Angua said, walking over to the bar and catching the Bladebacks attention, "What's the good word?"

The Saurial shrugged a little bit. Saurial couldn't speak the human language, for only fellow Saurial's like itself could understand them, and even then they spoke and communicated through shrieking and the sense of smell. Few could speak, and fewer could learn sign language. Most of them were more than capable of understanding other languages thankfully, so when talking to one, they simply asked Yes or No Questions.

"See anything, hear anything new?" Angua asked.

The Bladeback shook its head sadly.

"You hear about what happened to Damian then?"

The Bladeback nodded its head.

"But you didn't hear anything out of the ordinary?"

The Bladeback shook its head again.

"Ya know," Said a very Scottish accent, or one that sounded very similar to that of Sean Connery off to the right of Angua, "when you're trying to get answers out of someone, you might get a bit luckier than trying to get them to spill if they weren't mute."

Angua cringed. "Hello, Fourteen."

Fourteen grinned over at her. Fourteen happened to be a very handsome looking man, who looked to be in his mid twenties. He looked exceedingly like James Bond, actually, right from the black tuxedo, the slicked back hair, and even the little red corsage in his pocket. Fourteens entire history seemed a little on the shrouded side: no one even knew his first name. He just insisted on being called Fourteen, especially when he joined the Shadowchasers. When asked, he would give you the same answer over and over again: "Because I'm twice as good as 007, love."

"And what brings the lovely law enforcement to a seedy little place like this?"

"Please, love," Fourteen grinned, liftin his drink and downing it, "I come here to relax, you know, while I'm on my down time. Besides, it's happy hour, ya know."

"What are you REALLY doing here, Fourteen?" Angua asked, leaning back against the bar and looking at him.

"Jalal wants me out here," he said, no nonsense tone this time, "Got here around sometime this morning, he said he wanted someone on the inside checking out anymore possible counterfeiters while you and your own team are being bothered what with your OWN issues, from what I heard."

"Do YOU know anything?" Angua asked, her curiosity peaked.

"Like I said, I just recently got in, so I only know about the accident, and wouldn't know much even if I did…sorry love. Damian has my condolences though, he's a good man, after all. Bit thick in the head, and a bit of a rusher if I do say so myself…

"Said the man who's obsessed with explosives…"

"Hey, can't all be perfect." He smiled, tipping his glass to her.

Angua sighed a little bit. "You'd think in a seedy looking place like this, there'd at least be SOME talk about nearly taking out a Shadowchaser, even one that gets around like Damian."

"Well…" Fourteen suddenly mused a little, looking over around the bar. "If you wanted my opinion love, you should go ask that pretty little thing in the corner."

Angua's eyes scanned the area until she saw the woman in the corner, and was stunned that she didn't notice her before. Her hair was long and red, nearly touching her backside, which hid one of her nearly glowing green eyes. Her skin was flawless and pale, her outfit being the skimpiest Angua had ever seen. It barely covered her body, but even then it didn't hide anything, rather accentuating the large chest she had, and her curves. She was quite the attention grabber of the male populace in the bar.

"What makes you think she knows anything?" Angua asked, not taking her eyes off the shadow in question.

Fourteen shrugged a little, taking a small sip of his drink. "She's shady, she looks like she's getting ready to run out of here at the lightest pin drop…and, well, Succubus tend to get a lot of information very easily."

"How do you know she's a Succubus?" She asked.

Fourteen laughed a little. "Well, look at her love! No shadow, well, any self respecting Shadow would be dressed that way. And…well, shame is, I happen to know what they look like, even through their disguise…"

Angua sighed and shook her head. "Thanks Fourteen, wish me luck."

"I wish ya the best of luck, lass!" He called, holding up his glass as Angua approached the apparent succubus.

"Oh boys," The woman called, holding up an empty mug, "I need a refill!"

A near stampede of male Shadows rushed to get the girl a drink, and it made Angua sneer. Men, they were such pigs sometimes…

As she approached, the Succubus looked up at her in surprise. Angua looked down at her, her visor down, and scowled. "Excuse me, Miss…"

"You can call me Alexandra." The woman purred, and walked up, "And is there a problem…officer?"

_She has that really flirty tone…_Angua thought.

"I was hoping to ask you a few questions, if you had the time…"

Alexandra giggled and moved a bit closer. "Oh, I'll answer anything you want, handsome…"

…_Does…Does she think I'm a guy?! _Angua screamed in her mind, blushing bright red in embarrassment. _Why that…gah!_

"Look," Angua said, gritting her teeth in anger, keeping her voice level, "If you would just cooperate…"

Alexandra grinned a bit. "Oh…I will…"

Angua snapped. "You realize I'm a woman, right?!"

The succubus was silent for a moment…and finally she recoiled in disgust. "Oh god…"

"Yeah, trust me, it wasn't that much of a picnic for me either," Angua snarled, brushing herself off. "Now look, I have a few questions for you."

Alexandra sneered and turned around, brushing her off. "Blow it out your ear copper, you got nothing on me."

Angua looked down at the lower back of her, and narrowed her eyes. Before she was out of range, Angua grabbed her by the arm. "Wanna explain what that Tattoo on your back is? Looks pretty suspicious." Something about it seemed way dd...like the tattoo itself was letting energy...

Alexandra's eyes flared in anger and spun around, grasping the front of Angua's shirt and picking her up. "Don't you DARE touch me like that, you little-"

She didn't get another word in edge wise as a fist suddenly collided with the Succubus' cheek, sending her reeling.

"CAT FIGHT!" Shouted an orc. Many of the shadows in the room began to cheer for Alexandra, making loud cat calls and obnoxious noises.

Alexandra collected herself and growled loud, her eyes glowing a bright orange as she suddenly lunged at Angua, knocking the police officer to the ground. Angua flipped over a little bit and used her legs to push her off and over her, slamming into a table and breaking it in half."

"You bitch!" Alexandra screamed, standing up and throwing a punch of her own at Angua, hitting her in the chin and sending her staggering. Taking this time as an advantage, her fist came into contact with her stomach. Finally, she grabbed her by the back of her shirt, gripped her tight and with a shriek of anger, threw her into a large group of shadows. With a cry, they scattered as Angua slammed face first into the table and made it collapse, piling drinks and wood on her.

Alexandra sneered and crossed her arm. "That's right." She grinned, wiping the blood from her cheek. "That's why you don't mess with me."

Angua remained still for a few moment, until a loud, rumbling growl came from her. Everyone suddenly backed away, and Alexandra suddenly blinked.

Angua rose up, but something had certainly changed about her. She seemed to be glowing with energy, and when she turned around, her hair was a little bit longer, her eyes were glowing a bright yellow, and her canines began to grow a little bit longer. Hair had began to grow all over her body, and her own hair was starting to grow fuller, to the point Angua merely whipped off her helmet and threw it off to the side. Her nails grew into claws, and she let out a loud snarl.

"You're going to wish you hadn't done that…" Angua snarled her voice a deep, deep, angry growl.

Alexandra's eyes widened, and she took a step back. "You're…You're a lycan?!"

"Damn right," Angua snarled, her now yellow eyes focusing intensely on the Succubus. "And I believe it's a common rule that you don't make a Werewolf angry…"

Alexandra knew that, despite her own power, she would never be able to deal with a lycan. She needed to get out of here, now!

She made a quick dash for the door…

Angua was right in front of her before she could even take a step, grabbed her by the throat and slammed her onto the wall.

"Now, I believe I had a few questions about that tattoo of yours…."

"Why? What's so important about it?" Alexandra gasped, struggling to breath.

"I wanna know why it says Sons of Tyranny on it."

There was stunned silence all around, all eyes on the two.

Alexandra suddenly grinned. "You'll never get a word out of me, you little…I'd rather die than tell you anything."

"That can easily be arranged," She snarled, lifting up a clawed hand.

Alexandra paled. Okay, so that bluff hadn't worked…

"Hold it, hold it, hold it!" Shouted a Scottish voice. Off to the side, Fourteen had had enough. "If you're going to do this, at least do it with honor! Give us a good show! Give us a duel or something! Cause lord knows, despite the fact we're surrounded by blood thirsty monsters doesn't mean we can't be civil about it!"

"Hey!" The minotaur body guard shouted. "I take offense to that! Sure, my kind CAN be blood thirsty…"

"Yeah! Let's see a duel!" Shouted a gnome near the back.

"Let's see whatcha got copper!" bellowed an orc.

"Duel! Duel! Duel! Duel! Duel! Duel! Duel!"

Angua snarled a little bit and dropped Alexandra. "Looks like the crowd has spoken." She said. "But when I win, I get answers. Understand?"

"Fine," Alexandra snarled as she grabbed her duel disk off her back. "I don't want anything, aside from smearing you on the ground for a while…"

Angua snarled and backflipped, landing a good distance away from Alexandra, who quickly whistled. "Oh boys! I need a duel disk!"

Several duel disks were suddenly flung at her feet by her fans. She quickly reached down and snagged one up. "This one looks good!" A single shadow cheered, while the others glared at him in jealousy.

Angua snarled and slipped her duel disk onto her wrist. _I need to finish this quickly._ She thought, gritting her now fanged teeth._Before I lose it completely…I'm still trying my damndest to keep me down at this rate…_

Alexandra took her deck and slipped it into her graveyard.

"Let's duel!"

**(Angua: 8,000) - - - - - - - (Alexandra: 8,000)**

"And I'll make the first move!" Alexandra shouted, drawing a card. "Draw!"

She looked at her hand, and couldn't help but grin._ This'll be easy than shooting fish in a barrel. All beast and beast warrior monsters need their Attacks to be even the slightest bit useful, and with my monsters, her monsters will be weakened beyond recognition!_

"I'm not scared of your Beast monsters!" Alexandra shouted. "I summon Reptilianne Gorgon in Attack Mode!"

A tall snake like being appeared in front of her, however, it was half snake and half woman, apparently. Her hair was wild and a purple color, her lower body that of a snake, wearing a pink dress. A hideous looking three headed snake stuck its head out of the top of its head. Bright yellow eyes stared out at Angua, and a loud hiss was heard. (1,400/1,400)

Before Alexandra could move, a small leaf appeared on Angua's side of the field. "What is-"

The ground erupted in front of Angua, making everyone blink at the new monster. It was…a beat. With eyes. (1,000/700)

"What….Is…..is that a vegetable?" Alexandra asked in surprise.

"Actually, yes, it is!" Angua laughed, grinning, "meet my Naturia Cosmos Beat."

"Naturia?" Alexandra asked. "You mean…you're not using Beasts…"

"Ha!" Angua laughed. "You WOULD assume that just because I'm a Lycan, I use Beasts or something of the like. I use the Naturia because they symbolize nature itself, which I must say has helped me quite a bit in the past…"

"But how did you summon that thing? It's still my turn!"

"Exactly! Since you Normal Summoned your Gorgon, I can special summon Beat from my hand to the field automatically."

Alexandra shrugged a little. "That's fine. Because it's still too weak for me to even worry about. I'll set these two cards facedown and end my turn."

Two facedowns appeared behind the large, humanoid snake being.

Angua drew a card, looking down at it and grinning. "I summon Naturia Guardian in Attack Mode!"

The ground erupted in front of her (again) and a large oak tree appeared. Upon closer inspection, the patrons realized it had a face. (1,600/400)

"And I know that the sooner I get rid of your Gorgon, the better. Naturia Guardian, attack Reptilianne Gorgon!"

Guardian began to glow, and thorny roots suddenly erupted from the ground. Like a spear, they launched themselves at Gorgon…

"I activate my trap card!" Alexandra's facedown flipped up, "Waboku! And oldy but a goodie, wouldn't you say?"

The three preists appeared in front of Gorgon, and blocked the thorny vine from hitting the reptile.

Angua snarled and looked at the single card in her hand. _Nah…I'll save it for now…_

"I'll follow you and set my own two cards facedown and end my turn."

Alexandra drew her card, and she grinned. "Now my favorite combo of all times can start!" She gloated. "I summon Reptilianne Naja in Attack Mode!"

Another snake like being appeared. This one was much smaller, like that of a child, with a bottom of a snake and the upper body of a young girl. Her scales were brown, and a rather dangerous looking cobra head stuck out from its head. (0/0)

"Well, I will admit, it's cute," Angua gloated. "But you didn't really achieve anything, in fact, you helped me! When you normal summon a monster, Guardian gains 300 Attack Points."

Naturia Guardian glowed green. (1,600/400) --- (1,900/400)

"I'll deal with him when the time is right! For now, I'll play my trap card, Spirit Barrier, which will protect me from all battle damage so long as it's up!"

"I'll use that to my advantage too!" Angua said. "By discarding the top card of my deck to the grave."

She discarded the top card.

"I can summon Naturia Rock in Attack mode!"

The monster itself was self explanatory. It was a rock, with small arms and legs, and large, googly eyes. (1,200/1,200)

"Are ALL your monsters this weird?" Alexandra asked looking at the strange assortment of monsters on her opponents side of the field.

Angua grinned, her fangs gleaming in the lights the bar still had to offer. "You haven't a clue."

"Well, whatever! Its still my turn, and I'm far from done! I'll equip Reptilianne Gorgon with Molting Escape."

The Spell appeared on the field, and Reptilianne Gorgon began to glow bright blue.

"Now not only can my monster negate its own destruction once per turn, but she'll gain 300 Attack points every time she does. And I'm not done either, because I have a Reptilianne monster on my side of the field, well, two actually, I can play Reptilianne Poison."

A dark mist suddenly surrounded Angua's Cosmos Beat.

"Now I can switch your defense position Cosmos Beat to attack mode, and reduce its attack to 0!"

Cosmos Beat was obviously stuggling, but it reluctantly rose to its tiny, nub like feet and turned into pure stone, much to Angua's shock. (1,000/700) --- (0/700)

"And to finish off my perfect combo, I'll play one of my favorite Spell Cards, Savage Colosseum!"

The bar around the two suddenly turned into a rather gothic and old looking Colosseum, a black mist surrounding all the field.

"In this magical place, every monsters rage gets the better of them and drives them insane with power and drives them to fight! However, there is a catch, when we DO attack, we'll gain 300 Life Points. Unfortunately for you, any monster that doesn't attack will get destroyed."

"Clever," Angua said reluctantly, "With your field set up, you made it so not only do you lose any monsters through battle, but you'll weaken mine, increase your life points, and make my monsters go into a suicide charge each time."

"Glad to see through all that fur you're kinda smart! Gorgon, attack Guardian!"

Gorgon slithered forward, a wicked smile on her purple lips. She approached Guardian, and looked up into the trees eyes. Both sets of eyes glowed, and after a booming gasp, Guardian turned into solid stone. (1,900/400) --- (0/400)

As Gorgon leapt back to her owners side of the field, she rose to 1,700 Attack Points.

"Now Reptilianne Naja, attack Naturia Rock."

Naja also slithered forward and stared into the rocks eyes. Nothing really happened, but it did turn to stone as well. (1,200/1,200) --- (0/1,200)

"And before you think you can try, Naja can't be destroyed by battle, and if you try to attack her, any monster thrown her way will become nothing more than a paper weight! I'll end my turn."

**(Angua: 8,000) - - - - - - - (Alexandra: 8,300)**

Angua drew her card and looked at it. She then looked at the set up. Cosmos and Guardian, despite being stone, were in Attack mode and Rock was in defense mode, so he wouldn't be effected by Savage Colosseums effect. Guardian couldn't switch its positions, and she assumed Reptilianne Poison did the same thing. She was going to lose two monsters on her side of the field regardless, so…

"Guardian and Cosmos Beat, attack Reptilianne Naja!"

Cosmos Beat and Guardian didn't move at first, but Cosmos Beat suddenly fired a beam from its dead eyes, and Naturia Guardian lifted its thorny root, which was also made of stone at this point, and shot it weakly at the tiny snake. Before they had a chance to make contact, they erupted into dust.

"Clever, a suicide stike against my monster, ensuring at least you wouldn't lose life points," Alexandra grinned, "I'm impressed, maybe you're one of the smart ones…"

"Stupid little…I summon Naturia Butterfly in Attack Mode."

A pink butterfly appeared in front of Angua, with gossamer wings and large watery eyes, green antennae and arms and legs that seemed to be made of some form of plant life. (500/1,200)

"And I'll end my turn, meaning your Field Spell affects me as well, meaning I gain some life points."

**(Angua: 8,300) - - - - - - - (Alexandra: 8,300)**

"I'm not afraid of your little down to earth monsters, I'll make them all mulch! Draw!"

She drew her card and scowled.

"I'll set one card facedown, and have my Gorgon finish the job with your Rock!"

Gorgon shot forward this time, rather than taking it easy, her fangs bared at the comatose looking monster…

When suddenly, a barrier of what looked like dew appeared around Naturia Rock, and it knocked Reptilianne Gorgon away, making her hiss in confusion.

"Confused?" Angua teased, "Well Butterfly isn't just for show. In fact, she's one of the best Naturia around. By discarding the top card of my deck, I can negate one attack."

She discarded the said card, and Alexandra snarled, gripping a tight fist.

"Well can it do it again?! Naja, attack Butterfly!"

Naja glared at the smaller insect, and her eyes glowed. Suddenly, in a flash of light, Butterfly was made of stone. (500/1,200) --- (0/1,200)

"I'll end my turn," Alexandra snarled, crossing her arms. "But since Gorgons attack got negated, Savage Colosseum destroys her…"

Gorgon screamed and suddenly exploded into pixels.

**(Angua: 8,300) - - - - - - - (Alexandra: 8,600)**

"Come on babe, show her how we do it!" A shadow off to the side shouted.

"Don't let this goodie goodie win! Come on, whale on her!"

"Alexandra, Alexandra, Alexandra!" Chanted the crowed excitedly.

"Draw!" Angua drew, looked at it, and couldn't help but grin. "I couldn't have asked for better! I first play my trap card, Dust Tornado to destroy your Spirit Barrier!"

The debris filled tornado appeared and blew forward, blasting apart the trap card.

Alexandra laughed. "Whatever, I may lose Life Points again, but your monsters will still suffer if they attack Naja, so go ahead, attack! See if I care."

"Oh, I will," the Lycan grinned, letting a low growl escape her lips. "But there's one thing I should warn you about. Butterfly's a Tuner."

"Say what?"

"Butterfly, Rock, I tune you two together!"

Despite being made of rock, the wings of the butterfly flew into the air, and Rock followed after it.

"Guardians of the forest rise to keep the tranquility of the world! Master of Rock, Land and Soil, summon to the field…Naturia Landols!"

A thunderous boom erupted from right behind her, and for good reason. The tremendous monster was that of a turtle that was made entirely out of rock. Its shell however was adorned with moss, grass, and oddly enough a tree. It didn't shriek, groan or roar, instead, it looked down at Alexandra, almost lazily. (2,350/1,600)

"Okay…" Alexandra took a step back, looking up at the impressive looking monster, "I'll admit…I'm impressed…"

"And since you've pissed me off more than a few times, I'll Special Summon from my graveyard Naturia Ladybug!"

A cute little ladybug appeared in front of Angua and beneath the massive monster. However, rather than being covered in black spots, it was covered in a flower design. (100/100)

"Wait, how did he get in your graveyard?!"

"Remember Naturia Rock?" Angua chuckled. "Yeah, these guys help each other out, even when they don't know they are."

Alexandra snarled, her right eye twitching.

"So now I'll use Ladybug's effect, sacrifice it, and give Landols an extra 1,000 Attack Points."

Ladybug evaporated into green pixels, which was quickly absorbed into Landols. It rose to 3,350 Attack.

"Landols, attack Reptilianne Naja with Peace of Nature!"

Landols looked down at Naja and lifted a foot into the air, slamming down on it and shaking the entire bar foundation. Naja screamed and fell over on her side.

"Trap activate! Treasure of the Snake Temple! Now I draw a card for every 1,000 Damage I just took from my Reptile monster!"

She drew three cards, and Naja snarled, sitting up and starting to glare at Landols, who looked down at the younger being and tilted its head. Its own eyes glowed a bright green…

Naja suddenly gasped, grasped her head, and exploded into pixels. Landols was still at 3,350.

"What did you do to my monster?!" Alexandra screamed, her eyes wide in surprise. "And how is your monster still so strong!"

"Landols isn't one of the four major lords of the Earth for nothing ya know! By discarding a Spell card from my hand, I can negate the activation of one of your monster effects and destroy it!"

Alexandra narrowed her eyes and grit her teeth.

"So now I'll end my turn. But you may wanna tread lightly. For all you know, I have another spell in my hand. And let's admit it, your entire STRATEGY needs monster effects…"

Alexandra drew a card.

**(Angua: 8,600) - - - - - - - (Alexandra: 5,250)**

_She may be bluffing…she's proven she's a LOT better than she looks. I'll have to risk it…_

"I play my Spell card, Reptilianne Spawn. By removing a Reptilianne monster in my graveyard, I can make two Reptilianne Tokens."

Reptilianne Gorgon slipped out of her graveyard, and two misty looking salamanders appeared. (0/0) X 2

"Then, I'll sacrifice one of them to summon Reptilianne Medusa."

While the other snake women were lithe and figured, despite being rather hideous, this one…was just hideous. Keeping up with the Half woman, half snake motif, this one looked like an obese woman crossed with a snake, her skin a pale green, and wearing a tight fitting shirt. Her hair was completely filled with hissing snakes. (2,200/800)

"Now Medusa is one of the most powerful of my Reptilianne monsters for a reason. She doesn't need to attack to turn your beast to stone, instead, she can turn it to stone automatically by discarding a card in my hand."

_All comes down to this…if she has a way to stop my monsters effect, I'm in a little bit more trouble…_

She discarded her Snake Rain…

Medusa's eyes glowed a bright green…

And Landols turned completely still, showing the effect had worked. (2,350/1,600) --- (0/1,600)

"Ha!" Alexandra laughed. "Perfect! Medusa, attack Landols!"

Medusa cackled and flew forward, lifting her massive tail into the air and slammed it into the giant beast. Landols was turned to rubble a moment later.

Alexandra giggled. "To end my turn, I'll set one card facedown and end my turn."

**(Angua: 6,400) - - - - - - - (Alexandra: 5,550)**

"Draw!" Angua drew.

Looking at her new hand, she winced a little and shook her head. Red was starting to seep into the corners of her eyes.

_Calm yourself girl, _She thought to herself weakly, _you gotta keep a calm head…you need to get better control at the very least…_

"I…play….Pot of Avarice."

Naturia Landols, Cosmos Beat, Rock, Guardian and Butterfly slipped out of her graveyard, and she added them to her hand. Shuffling them, she drew two cards.

_Let's hope this works…_

"I summon Naturia Spiderfang in Attack mode."

A large spider appeared in front of her, but it wasn't like anything like Alexandra or anyone else had ever seen. It's yellow was a bright yellow, dotted with green spots. Its legs were made of wood, its feet made of pinecones, and where the pincers SHOULD have been were leaves. However, the odd thing was, it was on its stomach, its eyes closed. It was sleeping. (2,100/400)

"Now, a little thing about Spiderfang," Angua said, "Before he wakes up, you need to activate a card effect. In other words, in order to attack, YOU need to play a card effect."

"Then I won't use anything this turn," Alexandra taunted, "And you can't attack!"

"Oh, you misunderstood! I was never gonna give you a chance, because I play Bait Doll! This forces your facedown into activation or destroy it!"

The facedown in front of Alexandra suddenly flipped up, revealing the trap card, Snake Choke.

"And the timing is correct! So now Spiderfang can attack this time!"

Spiderfang's eyes opened, and it rose to its feet.

"Like it matters! He's still too weak to beat my monsters!"

"Not worth trying! Spiderfang attack Medusa!"

Spiderfang shot out a web from between its leafy fangs…

"To which I'll chain my facedown card, Naturia Order, which increases my monsters attack by half of your monsters defense, so long as it's below 1,000 Points!

Spiderfang rose to 2,500 Attack, and the web melted against Medusa. She shrieked and exploded into pixels.

"Now I'll set one card facedown, and end my turn."

**(Angua: 6,700) - - - - - - - (Alexandra: 5,250)**

_Savage Colosseum is hurting me more than helping me! _Alexandra grunted. _She's gaining more Life Points than I am! I need to get it off the field…fast!_

"Draw!"

She drew her card, and she narrowed her eyes. A monster appeared in defense mode in front of her, and she glared.

"I'll take it that means you end your turn," Angua drew her card and looked at it, grinning a bit and showing more teeth. "I summon Naturia Strawberry in Attack Mode."

A figure with leaf like body, arms and legs appeared, with a large, oversized strawberry for a head. A face was on the front, smiling. (1,600/1,200)

"Strawberry, attack her defense monster!"

Strawberry threw a leaf forward, and sparkling dust floated down on the defense position monster. Morphing Jar appeared on the card, and cackled before exploding…rather violently.

Angua discarded her three cards, and both drew a full hand.

Spiderfang suddenly woke up, jumping to its feet.

"You're gonna wish you didn't do that! Spiderfang, attack her Reptilianne Spawn!"

Spiderfang began to spin its web again, which shot towards at the token at alarming speed…

The succubus casually discarded a card, and another woman, this one much bustier looking with midnight black scales and a rather dangerous looking Black Mamba snake appeared in front of Spiderfang. Its eyes glowed bright red, and Spiderfang suddenly turned into stone. The token still exploded however.

"Huh?" Angua asked.

"Lucky draw on my part!" Alexandra grinned, "Because that monster was known as Reptilianne Mamba, which works like Kuriboh of sorts, but reduces your monsters attack to 0! Useful, no?"

Angua sighed as Spiderfangs Attack fell to 0. Looking at her hand, she bit her lip, drawing some blood accidently, which she winced at.

_Dammit, _She thought, feeling the blood on her teeth and tasting it. _I'm doing good so far…but it's getting too much…gotta keep in control…you can do it…_

"I…" Her voice came out much deeper, and she shook her head, "I have to end my turn…"

**(Angua: 7,000) - - - - - - - (Alexandra: 5,250)**

Alexandra noticed the hesitation in her voice, and drew her card slowly. _She could be losing it…that could be both a bad thing and a good thing, I'm afraid to say, good because she might forfeit the duel…bad because she'll rip my throat out! I need to finish this!_

"I summon Reptilianne Scylla in Attack Mode."

One of the most hideous beasts appeared before Angua's eyes. From the top it was a woman, her mouth full of razor sharp fangs, her hair a wild red and flying in all directions, and her eyes a while gold and black design. It was what it was mounted on that was horrifying. It looked like a misshapen lump of skin and scales, and not one, but _three_ square toothed maws stared out. It let out a loud shriek, her eyes wide and her mouth open in anticipation. (1,800/1,200)

"Now be lucky, because my Snake Choke trap is still on the field, your monster can't be destroyed in battle, and…what's happening to your other monster?"

Indeed, Naturia Strawberry was starting to glow a bright green, and its head grew a little larger. It rose to 2,000 Attack Points.

"Naturia Strawberry…gains attack points equal to the monster you normal summoned or Special Summoned. Since Scylla is a level four monster, he gains 400 Attack Points."

"Fine, whatever. Scylla, attack Spiderfang!"

Scylla let out another loud shriek, and the largest mouth on her lower body released a purple mist, that drifted over Spiderfang. The frozen statue shuddered a little, but didn't explode.

"Then, I'll keep going and play Giant Trunade."

A massive windstorm whipped across the field and all of their spells and traps vanished from their sight. They were back in the bar again.

"Then, I'll play Magical Mallet, returning both Snake Choke and Savage Colosseum to my deck, then draw two new cards."

She shuffled her deck and drew new cards. She grinned and slid both of them facedown. "I'll set these two cards facedown, and end my turn."

Two cards appeared facedown cards appeared facedown.

**(Angua: 5,200) - - - - - - - (Alexandra: 5,250)**

Angua drew her card, and her eyes widened. She could pull off a combo and turn this entire thing around!

"I'll summon-"

"No you won't! Go facedown, Ojama Trio!"

Three bursts of Light erupted from the newly activated trap card, and the three Ojama's appeared on er side of the field. (0/1,000) X 3

Angua's eye twitched a little, and she sighed. She took the card she was ready to play, added it back to her hand, and slid two cards facedown. "Then I'll just set these two cards facedown and end my turn…"

Alexandra drew her card, and looked at her hand of three. One caught her eye.

"I summon Reptilianne Viper in Attack Mode!"

The next monster was a small shock. It wasn't humanoid, it was a snake, a cute one at that, a small viper with tiny nubs for arms. (0/0)

"And just by summoning him, I can take control of one of your monsters with 0 Attack. I'll take your Spiderfang, since I have a small grudge against him…"

Vipers eyes began to glow a chaotic rainbow of energy, and Spiderfangs still form was dragged over to her side of the field.

"And what's better? Reptilianne Viper is a Tuner! So I'll tune him and my new Spiderfang together to make one of my best monsters! Reptilianne Hydra!"

The two monsters flew into the air, and burst into six stars…

The new monster that appeared was something that made even a slowly morphing Angua take a step back. It was the opposite of the other Reptilianne monsters, with a somewhat humanoid body, but its upper body was that of something of a horror movie or greek mythology. Its head, or rather heads, were all scaled, long, and had fang filled mouths. Its most prominent features…was easily the five heads, each writhing and hissing. (2,100/1,500)

"Whoa," Angua said, taking a step back, looking up at the beast.

"Now for my monsters best ability," Alexandra explained. "When she's Synchro summoned, like I just did, all of your monsters with 0 Attack points are destroyed, and that includes the three Ojama monsters I have on your side of the field!"

Three of the heads of the giant beast glowed, and the three tokens exploded into dust. She grunted as three puffs of smoke wisped from her chest.

"So now not only do you lose 900 Life Points, but I'm allowed to draw a card for each card destroyed by this effect."

She drew three cards.

**(Angua: 4,300) - - - - - - - (Alexandra: 5,250)**

She looked over at Strawberry, seeing its Attack had risen to 2,200.

"So, saved it for my hydra, huh?" She sneered. "That's fine, I'll just end my turn."

Angua angrily drew her card, breathing in short pants. Her eyes were glowing a little bit more, and she grunted. "I…summon…Naturia…Antjaw…"

An ant appeared in front of her, with leaves for wings, and flowers for antennae, holding a large sunflower seed. (400/200)

"That ends my turn…"

"Drawing at straws, eh?" Alexandra asked, drawing a card. She looked at her hand. _Bah, I'll hold off summoning for now, at least until I can get that damn strawberry off the field…_

"Hydra, attack her Antjaw!"

The five sets of eyes began to glow…

"Go…Negate…Attack!"

The hesitation was evident, but the trap card flipped up, which canceled out the entire attack. The two Reptilianne monsters frowned and slinked back.

"Fine, you managed to hold off for another move, I'll just end my turn," Alexandra rolled her eyes.

"Draw…" Angua drew a card, and looked at it. She narrowed her eyes.

_If this doesn't work…I think I'll lose it…I can't hold it off this much longer!_

"I play….Dead Draw."

The Spell appeared on the field.

"Both draw one card," She grunted, "If it's a monster…it's Normal Summoned to the field. If it's a Spell or trap…discarded…and lose 500 Life Points…"

She drew a card from her hand shakily, and looked at it. Showing it to Alexandra, it was the Spell card Gaia Power. She discarded it, and howled loud as her disk shocked her.

**(Angua: 3,800) - - - - - - - (Alexandra: 5,250)**

"Heh, someone's not too lucky! Let's see if I can get better…" Alexandra drew her card….

And she cackled. "There's no way I could have asked for better! I summon Reptilianne Servant to the field!"

A thin looking cobra appeared in front of her, hissing with two thin looking arms. (100/100)

"You couldn't have give me a better chance! Reptilianne Servant can stop both of us from normal summoning, so you not only gave me another monster, but locked you down from summoning this turn! Good job!"

Angua grinned, and cleared her voice. "Heh…it looks like I'll just need to Normal Summon like hell this turn. Since that counted as a Normal Summon…" She took a card from her hand, "I can Special Summon Naturia Cosmos Beat again!"

The vegetable monster appeared in front of her again. (1,000/700)

"Which then allows me to play Naturia Antjaw's effect. When I Special Summon a monster from my hand, I can Special Summon ANOTHER monster from my deck of Level 3 or lower! So I summon to the field, Naturial Flightfly!"

The strangest looking monster of all appeared in front of her, and coming from what Angua's been playing, that's saying a bit. It looked like a fly, but made up of a strawberry, a blueberry, and a blackberry. (800/1,500)

"Since Flightfly's on the field, all of your monsters lose Attack and Defense equal to the number of Naturia monsters I have times 300! So you're about to drop a whole lot!"

Flightfly began to glow, and all three of the Reptilianne monsters gasped, slumping over a little bit. Hydra fell to 900/300, Scylla fell to 600/0, and Servant fell to 0/0.

"And once per turn, until the End Phase, I can take control of one of your monsters that has 0 Defense points. I'll gladly take Scylla from you."

Scylla and Flightfly began to glow, until Scylla appeared on Angua's side of the field, a dazed look on its face. Its score readjusted itself.

"Not only that, but since Servant was considered a Normal Summon, Strawberry gains 100 Attack points.

Strawberry's head grew a little bit, and it rose to 1,700 Attack Points.

"Now then…" Angua grinned. "I think it's time for a massacre…"

"Eh…" Alexandra took a step back, gulping, "Mercy…"

"Strawberry, get rid of his Hydra!"

Strawberry swung its arm, and the green mist fell on the Synchro monster. It shrieked and shuddered before exploding into pixels.

"Flightfly, attack Servant!"

Flightfly began to glow, and it threw it's midbody, the blackberry part, at Servant. It struck the smaller monster, and it shrieked before it exploded into pixels. The Blackberry flew back onto his body.

"Scylla, Antjaw, Cosmos, attack directly!"

Scylla released its deadly toxins at its previous own, which sent her into a coughing fit. She didn't get another chance to breath before Antjaw and Cosmos Beat came from the mist and flew into her stomach and her face respectively. The succubus fell to her knees, coughing hard.

"I gotta say," Angua grinned, "Whaling on a Succubus is a lot more fun than I remember. I mean, you lot lure Men to you and use them as living meat puppets and drain them of their energy…I gotta say, it's quite disgusting…giving females all over a bad name."

"And what have men done anyway?" She snarled, sitting up her eyes glowing. "Men are essentially the cause of all wars and everything bad in the world…I'm just doing everyone a favor by weeding them out, and if they'd rather die than keep it in their pants…then who am I to object?"

Angua glared at her, and waved her hand. "Cosmos Beat is also a Tuner monster, so I'll tune him and Scylla together to make a new monster!"

The two monsters leapt into the air…

"Guardians of the Forest, rise to keep the peace of nature pure! Guardian of Strength, Forest and Woodland, summon to the field…Naturia Balkion!"

A long Dragon suddenly flew down from the sky, looking like an ancient Chinese dragon of lore. A glaring difference that instead of being covered in scales, it was made of wood. (2,500/1,800)

As the Dragon settled down in front of Angua, its eyes narrowed on the Succubus, a low growl escaped it.

**(Angua: 4,300) - - - - - - - (Alexandra: 450)**

Alexandra drew, and she suddenly cackled. "Oh, you're in for it now…my best monster is coming out…"

"I thought Hydra was your best, which, you must remember, was blown to bits just last turn," Angua countered.

"Heh, bluffs are fun, no?" She giggled. "But first thing first is summoning her! I play Enemy Controller, which switches your giant wooden eyesore to defense mode!"

The giant video game controller appeared on the field, and after punching in a combination, Balkion curled up in defense mode.

"Then, I'll summon Reptilianne Guardna."

A large turtle appeared in front of her, staring out of its shell and bared it's teeth. Yes, it had teeth. (0/2,000)

"Then, I play a second Reptilianne Poison, which switches your monster to Attack position and makes its Attack points 0."

Balkion uncurled itself, and suddenly turned to stone as soon as Guardna stared at it. (2,500/1,800) --- (0/1,800)

"Now that there are two monsters on the field with 0 Attack points now, I can sacrifice them both…"

Balkion and Guardna both vanished into swirling pools of darkness, both of which met in the center of her field, and from it emerged a larger form, the largest Reptilianne monster that Angua had seen yet.

It was taller than anything she had summoned yet, and the bottom half was a dark black scale color, but the upper half was the most humanoid Angua had seen of her monsters yet. Her skin was a pale white, her dress hiding plenty of her body. She had four arms, and on her head was a head dress with a jewel like cobra near the top. She stared down at Angua with a smile. (2,600/0) --- (1,700/0)

"And summon Reptilianne Vasuki!"

"Yeah, she's impressive, but I fail to see how she's the best." Angua said, crossing her arms.

"Yeah, she's strong because once per turn, I can destroy a monster on your side of the field, free of charge."

"What?!"

"Vasuki, I use your effect and destroy Naturia Flightfly!"

Vasuki waved one of her arms, and nothing happened. Then, out of no where, Flightfly exploded into globs of fruit bits and juice.

Vasuki rose back up to 2,600 Attack Points.

"Vasuki, attack Antjaw!"

Vasuki swung her hand again, and Antjaw suddenly exploded into pixilated bits. Angua cried out and took a step back from the backlash of the explosion.

**(Angua: 2,100) - - - - - - - (Alexandra: 450)**

"I end my turn, copper. So best hope you get a miracle draw…"

Angua drew a card and looked at it. She sighed a little, and slid a monster on the field. "I set one monster in defense mode and switch Strawberry to defense mode…"

A facedown monster appeared, and Strawberry kneeled down.

"I guess I end my turn…"

The succubus drew, and she slipped the card in. "I summon another Reptilianne Gorgon."

The purple dressed half snake woman appeared. (1,400/1,400)

"Now I'll use Vasuki's effect to destroy your Strawberry…"

Vasuki gestured, and Strawberry exploded.

"Gorgon, attack her facedown monster!"

Gorgon hissed and swung her tail at the facedown card. A monster, that looked like a large slab with a pair of eyes and red moss growing on its head appeared.

"By destroying Naturia Cliff, I'm allowed to Special summon a Naturia Monster from my deck to the field with 1,500 Attack or less. I'll summon another Naturia Cliff."

Another of the slab like beings appeared. (1,500/1,000)

Alexandra sneered. "Vasuki, get it out of my sight."

Vasuki gestured, and Cliff exploded into small fragments.

**(Angua: 1,000) - - - - - - - (Alexandra: 450)**

Angua groaned loud, gritting her teeth. "I'll…summon another."

Another Cliff appeared. (1,500/1,000)

"Heh, whatever," Alexandra said. "no matter what you summon, I'll be able to destroy. Face it, you lost."

"Draw!" Angua shouted, her eyes flaring a little bit. _Gotta finish! I'm…gah!_

"I summon Naturia Nerve!"

A smaller being appeared, completely made out of leaves and other nature like stuff, an angry sneer on its face. (200/300)

"THAT'S the best you have to offer? Please, I'm not afraid of your little walk through the woods monsters anymore!"

"Best…thing…about Nerve…" Angua chuckled, her voice going into an even deeper snarl, "Is….he's a tuner….Synchro Summon!"

Cliff and Nerve both flew into the air.

"Guardian of Nature…preserve the goodness of earth! Protector of plant, root and soul….Synchro Summon…Naturia Beast!"

The monster that appeared with a thundering crash could only be described as a tiger with green moss instead of fur. Its eyes were filled with unbridled knowledge, and from its legs was growing wood like armor. (2,200/1,700)

"And since I…Synchro Summoned…I can summon my Ladybug again…"

The flowered ladybug appeared, but the second it appeared, it vanished and was absorbed into the Naturia Beast. It rose to 3,200 attack points.

Alexandra gasped and took a step back. "Wait! I'm sorry! Please, mercy!"

Angua snarled. "Beast!" She shouted, her voice now a loud snarl. "Attack Vasuki! End it!"

Beast snarled and leapt through the air and pounced on the giant snake woman. With a shriek, she hit the ground, and Beast snapped at her, blowing her to pixels.

**(Angua: 1,000) - - - - - - - (Alexandra: 0)**

"As the cards vanished, Angua snarled loud and fell to her knees, her voice growling deep. She couldn't hold it down anymore, she was changing, the bestial form taking over. She let out a loud snarl, and she glared hatefully at Alexandra.

"Okay!" She screamed in horror, backing away. "Okay! I'll talk! I'll talk! Don't hurt me! Please!"

Angua prepared to pounce on her, ready to rip her throat out…

She yelped out suddenly as she felt a hard stab to the back. Turning around, she saw a large vial sticking out from her back, whose contents were all ready being pumped into her system.

"Sorry love," Fourteen said as he walked over. "But you won, and you can't kill the opponent without getting your end of the bargin."

Angua snarled weakly, drool falling from her mouth before she ultimately fell to his feet and passed out.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Alexandra cried, rushing over to Fourteen and clinging to him. "You saved my life! How could I ever thank-"

A fist connected with her face, which also knocked her out.

"And THAT I just felt like doing."

…

Thankfully, Angua would wake up soon, having not been pumped by that much of tranquilizer, and Alexandra soon followed suit. The Shadowchaser and the Police officer dragged the succubus out into the alley and threw her against the wall.

"Talk. Now."

"Okay!" She cried. "This Tattoo….this was one of the tattoo people get when they join…well…the Sons of Tyranny."

"The Sons of Tyranny?" Angua asked. Was that the name Scraps mentioned earlier?

"The Sons of Tyranny?!" Fourteen cried, making her jump. "Bloody hell, YOU'RE part of the Sons of Tyranny?"

"I'm an EX-Member." She snarled at the Shadowchasers, "But yeah, I WAS affiliated with them."

"Who are the sons of Tyranny?" Angua asked the two.

"The Sons of Tyranny are a motorcycle gang, who used to terrorize every town they would come through, and essentially, and more literally half the time, raised hell." Fourteen explained.

"So…they're a motorcycle gang," Angua said slowly. "I don't see why that would be such a big issue for the Shadowchasers…"

"It's a bit bigger than that, princess," Alexandra sneered.

"Then start talking," Angua snapped. "Tell me what you know."

"Fine, fine," She rolled her eyes. "They WERE just a Motorcycle gang until they got ambushed by a town that was packing some serious heat and cornered them in a Gas Station. So now they were stuck between a rock and a hard place. The entire town police were basically ready to pump them full of lead at the slightest twitch, not t mention any false shot could blow them to bits.

THAT was when they met who could have been the messanger of Hextor, or Hextor himself."

"Hextor?" Angua asked.

"He's supposed to be the god of conflict, War and destruction, big time baddie but sometimes the lesser bad guy would turn to for support."

"Anyway," Alexandra snarled, "The demon said that if they gave their loyalty to Hextor, they could not only get out of this stuation, but they'd get power they never even knew imagined. Only an idiot would pass an offer like that, so they agreed.

With the new power, they slaughtered the entire town's police force of almost one hundred officers."

Angua's eyes widened suddenly. She HAD heard a story about that when she was younger, her mother talked about it…

"Now that these guys had these powers, they called themselves the Sons of Tyranny and all of a sudden, almost every criminal was just BEGGING to join them! Now trust me, Hextor isn't that picky when it comes to who joins the Sons of Tyranny either, just so long as they claim their loyalty to him. He didn't care if society rejected them for what they believed in, what shadow they were, what crime they committed, anything!. Now, when it comes to getting divine energy and almighty power, the group…tends to get a bit big, so eventually, the group began to branch out. One group became two, two became four, four became eight, and so on, and so on.

I remember when I joined. Oh the power, it was delicious, but I was part of a smaller of the groups that had split apart, but then…IT happened. Two new members showed up at nearly the exact same time. A rather handsome beast named Vlad…and some little punk kid whose name escapes me, I don't know.

So Vlad joins the group without a second glance, he's big, he's strong, and he's got what it takes to be part of the group. The kid BARELY passes, but Vlad decides to take him under his wing and show him the ropes of how to be REALLY bad, and obviously, this Vlad guy knows exactly what he's doing because the kid starts showing massive improvement over the course of a few weeks.

However, things began to change a little bit as time went on, I think about a few months after we got the new members. Vlad started to get impatient, he was content with his new power, but I'm positive that he was dying inside because he figured that this was the strongest he was going to get with the new group. So Vlad decides to go out and search for a higher power. However, the punk kid from before tries to stop him.

He challenges Vlad to a duel and Vlad decides to spice things up by making it a Shadow Duel. But when they dueled…well, I can't say duel, it was more like a slaughter on the kids part. Vlad was showing no resilience against the kid who he taught himself. When he was finished…well, I don't think I've ever seen someone as burned as that kid himself. That done, Vlad hopped on his bike….and disappeared. I never saw him again.

I quit the Sons a year ago at best. Never heard from Vlad again, and no one ever found the kids body. No one knows what happened to either. So I assume Vlad's still out there, looking for that higher power he's desperately looking for…"

Angua looked down at Alexandra, and nodded. "Now get out of my sight."

Alexandra sneered and rose up from her seat, walking back into the bar and calling the men's names, asking for a drink. The loud cry of this was emphasized that she was gonna get that drink.

"Well," Fourteen said, "Gotta say, that's a rather dark little twist. But what's it gotta do with Damian I wonder?"

Angua looked down at the ground, and frowned.

…

**Treasure of the Snake Temple  
Type**: Trap  
**Image**: Two Snake-Like humanoids bowing before a golden statue of Vennominaga.  
**Effect**: Activate this card when you take battle damage from a battle involving a Reptile-Type monster. If you activate this card, you cannot activate any Spells or Traps during the same turn. Draw one card for every 1,000 points of damage you took from the 1 battle.

_Note: Treasure of the Snake Temple was created by Cybercommander and used with Permission. All creative credit goes to him._

**Reptilianne Mamba  
Type**: Reptile/Effect/Dark  
**Attack/Defense**: 400/100  
**Stars**: 1  
**Effect**: Activate this card when your opponent declares an attack. Discard this card from your hand and reduce the attacking monsters ATK to 0 after Damage Calculation.

**Naturia Order  
Type**: Trap  
**Image**: A sleepy looking Naturia Spider looking up lazily at a charging Battle Ox  
**Effect**: Activate this card only when you attack with a "Naturia" monster. If the monster selected as an Attack target has a DEF of 1,000 or less, increase the attacking monsters ATK by half that.

**Dead Draw  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: Quickdraw Synchron attempting to shot it's gun only to realize to its horror it has no bullets.  
**Effect**: Both players draw 1 card. If the drawn card is a Spell or Trap, it is discarded and the owner is dealt 500 points of damage. If it is a monster and capable of being Normal Summoned, summon it to the field. This is treated as a Normal Summon. If the monster cannot be normal summoned, return it to the owners deck.

…

Whelp, more plot is revealed to us. But what does it mean? Next turn, an assassin has been sent to take out Damian, permanently this time. However, with Scraps gone, his only hope is Jess. Can she help beat the assassin before he can kill her new ally? Find out next time in "Man-Eater Bug", coming soon!


	10. ManEater Bug

Disclaimer: I do not own the Yu-Gi-Oh Franchise, nor do I intend to make money from it. I do not own the Shadowchasers, that belongs to Cybercommander. Any characters you see belong to me.

Also, Happy New Years, all!

…

The inside of the hospital room was quiet enough to hear a pin drop. Jess was looking down at the ground and wringing her hands together. It was a little awkward being in the same room as a comatose body, and a larger junk homunculus.

"Miss Jess, if I may refer to you as such, why are you being so quiet? It's not like your kind to be as silent as a church mouse for such a long period of time, and believe me; I've studied Damian and Jerian to know that for a fact."

"I'm sorry Scraps," She said with a shake of her head, "but I'm just thinking a little too much into this. Someone killed my father, someone tried to kill Damian…" She sighed.

"Ah, yes, thinking about death can be quite devastating for humans, as I've seen. It's an interesting, concept, death. The sudden shutting down of all functioning organs, and everything stops. The only thing I can imagine being similar to me is when a computer is turned off permanently. Oh, I'm sorry, I don't believe that was politically correct, excuse me."

Jess whimpered and looked down, curling up a little bit.

Scraps watched this and shook his head, walking over to her and sitting down beside her with a loud, echoing thud. "You must forgive me, Miss. As I've stated before, I cannot begin to imagine how it must be to have these emotions. Trust me, I believe at times I have what you would call the Pinocchio Syndrome, a desire, if you will, to see how it would be to have the emotions I've only studied."

Silence fell between the two, and Scraps looked at the prone figure of Damian. Something was telling him he nearly forgot to do something…

He blinked his sensors together and rose up walking to the other side of the bed and kneeling down, pressing something to the side bed.

"I can't believe I almost forgot, Master Jerian would have my head if I forgot something as important as this." He mumbled to himself.

"What is it?" Jess asked, looking up from her legs and snffling a little bit.

"It's a precaution, if you will, to make sure nothing happens to Damian, should worse come to worse." He explained and stood up. He pulled out something from the heavy trench coat he was wearing, to disguise himself. "There. He should be fine now. All we must do is wait for the others to come back."

Jess nodded and looked back down at the ground.

"You musn't concern yourself with small things like death, Miss," Scraps spoke up. "Your father passed protecting you. He d-"

He cut off in mid sentence, and he froze in his place, his eyes slowly widening to their normal green color.

Jess watched this, and blinked. "Scraps?"

Scraps did nothing, and simply stayed in his position, almost as if time had stopped for him.

"Scraps, that isn't funny, say something."

Rather than say something, Scraps rose slowly to his feet and turned towards the door. He began to slowly stomp his way towards the door, not saying a word.

"Scraps!" Jess shouted, a little bit too loudly for her own good and rushed to grab him. "Scraps, stop! What's going on, what are you doing?"

Scraps merely pushed her away from him, and walked out the door, disappearing around the corner. Jess was ready to chase him, but she needed to stay with Damian. She sighed. Scraps was tough, he'd take care of himself.

She walked over to the window and watched the heavily dressed homunculus vanish off down the road. What was going on?

She didn't notice the shady looking figure enter the Hospital as soon as he was out of sight.

…

The bored looking receptionist looked down at the magazine, chewing loudly on a piece of gum. Flipping the page, she looked up to see a sight that caused her to raise her eyebrow.

It was a homeless man that much was certain. He was dirty, had rotted, tearing clothing, and a dizzy look on his face. He moved oddly, like he wasn't in total control of his own body. He shambled and walked over to the front desk. Finally reaching his destination, he froze. And did nothing else.

"Can I help you sir?" The receptionist asked after a long uncomfortable minute of silence.

"Ah! Yes," His voice sounded slurred, almost as if he was drunk, and his eyes weren't focused. His skin…was dragging, it looked like. "I have a disease, very ill, and I require immediate help."

"What disease do you have sir?" She asked, looking skeptically at him.

"I…have…" He paused, almost as if he was thinking. "I have the Black Plague. Yes, very deadly, and very contagious. Requires help."

"Sir, the Black Plague was wiped out hundreds of years ago."

"Well then, I have small pox."

"Also wiped out, sir."

"Ebola Virus."

"You don't have any open wounds, sir."

"Gangrene."

"None of your body parts are green, sir."

"Leprosy."

"You don't seem to have any skin lesions."

The man let out a loud sigh and began to wrack his brain, trying to think of something.

"I…have….Swine Flu."

THAT got her attention. "Oh! Doctor, we have a case of H1N1, treatment required."

It was amazing how the humans didn't exactly freak out at some of the worst disease possibilities, but the mentioning of the Swine Flu sent them in a panic. The raggedy man sneered as the receptionist rushed off to alert a doctor. Stupid humans. It would be fun to wipe them all out when this was over.

The coast clear, he walked down the hallway, still limping and almost falling over himself, his eyes dead and glassy. Finally, he stopped outside the door of a certain patient, seeing how he was a little unoccupied at the moment. He didn't see Jess, who was still at the window, looking down at the ground.

The vagrant walked over to Damian, still limping over his own legs, making sure not to make a sound.

From under his jacket, a large stinger, like one would find on an insect, slid out from the back of his said jacket. He slowly approached the comatose Shadowchaser…

A loud scream of pure agony made Jess turn around in shock. But what she saw wasn't what one would expect. Rather than Damian being the one in pain…it was the strange looking vagrant.

The stinger had stopped mid-plunge towards Damian and had stopped when a green forcefield of energy had appeared. To add the strangeness to the situation, the mans skin began to peel off.

As he backed away, twitching, his skin indeed began to peel off like a cheap costume. Underneath the skin was a large being, that looked like a humanoid cockroach. Its pincers were sharp and seratted, its eyes were the darkest red Jess had ever seen. It had claws, and the stinger finally moved back to it's back. Finally, it twitched one final time, before shuddering hard and smoking.

"What….the hell did you do?!" The insectile beast screamed at Jess.

Jess' eyes widened and she backed away. "You…you're…a Ruin Roach!"

Ruin Roaches were some of the most dangerous Shadows one could deal with. While higher beings considered them a little bit more than Roaches, for that was what they were, to humans and Shadowchasers, they were quite a menace. Ruin Roaches weren't necessarily a fighting group; in fact, they were more scavengers than predators. During Blood Wars and the like, they would hide and wait in the shadows until the battle itself was over. It would be then they swept the war torn battlefield and grabbed all they could.

That didn't mean that Ruin Roaches weren't the least bit dangerous. They had a tendency to not only enter human civilizations, but kill and wear certain human's skin. Like homunculus, Ruin Roaches couldnl't assume the disguise in the eyes of the mundane, so they needed to make their own. So this entailed killing, devouring, and wearing the victims skin.

It was a job of Shadowchasers every now and again to help thin out the forces and larger groups that happened to pop up every now and again. Should the swarm get out of control…well, the consequences would be dire.

"Very good!" The Ruin Roach shrieked, shaking off the twitching it was experiencing and snarled at Jess. "Now answer me, Shadowchaser, why can't I get him!?"

_He thinks I'm a Shadowchaser?_ Jess questioned in her mind. _Should I feel honored? Or frightened?_

The Ruin Roach snarled and his stinger went above his head again, his pincers snapping together angrily. "I said answer me or you'll be joining him!"

"I…I don't…"

The Ruin Roach shrieked and thrusted the stringer towards her…

Another blast of energy struck it, and he shrieked, twitching hard and took a step back. Taking a deep breath, the Ruin Roach looked up to Jess, and its eyes flared.

"I s-see." It stuttered. "V-Very clever, Sh-Shadowchaser, putting up a p-protective barrier like that…"

"Um…"

"However..." The Ruin Roach twitched, his pincers working over time, "I happen to know that with every protective barrier…there's a way to negate it." He glared at her. "And I happen to know you have it on you…"

_How would he know? _Jess asked, taking a step back. She was safe because of this barrier she guessed was up, but she was in the vicinity of a Ruin Roach! _What's going on? What on earth is he talking about?!_

The Ruin Roach looked down at Jess, "But where…"

It was then Jess looked down at the ground near the door. Laying there was what appeared to be a Duel Monsters card, laying facedown. Maybe it hadn't seen it yet? Slowly, she began to edge to the side, her eyes staying on the card all the while. The Ruin Roach suddenly saw her shifting, and followed her gaze to the ground…

And he too saw the card. "Aha!" he shouted. His stinger shot out, attempting to pierce the card…

Jess leapt through the air and grasped the card before rolling out of the way, the stringer plunging into the ground and cracking the ground. Jess panted and kept the card close to her, and Edgar snarled, glaring at her.

"I won't be denied, Shadowchaser!" He shouted. "Give me the card now!"

"Why should I?" She snapped, glaring at him.

The Ruin Roach glared at her in its soulless eyes, and he chuckled. Coming from a Ruin Roach, it was something that chilled her to her soul. "If you don't give me the card and let me carry on with my job…well, let's just say I can't exactly be held responsible for the lives of the other sickly humans in the hospital." He chuckled.

Jess' eyes widened a little bit and she pulled the ca rd closer to her. She couldn't give him the card, he'd kill Damian! But if she didn't give him the card, he'd kill everyone in the Hospital. She couldn't stop him, she was the farthest thing from a fighter, and…

Wait…maybe she could halfass her way out of this…

"As a member of the Shadowchasers," She stated as boldly as she could, "I will inform you your threats will not go unpunished! I cannot simply give you the card because…um…"

She looked down at the ground, and saw the card. It was a fifty fifty shot, most shadows didn't know or even care to duel, but if she did…well, she'd buy herself some time until Jerian or Angua got back.

"You…need to win it fair and square in a duel! It's a special enchantment put on it!"

The Ruin Roach twitched a little bit, and he glared at her. Staring and not moving for a moment, he chuckled.

"You simple Shadowchasers, you think that Duel Monsters can get you everywhere in life…"

One of the many arms he had reached down into the skin that had fallen off, and it pulled out a wafer sized looking stick. It slapped it on its crusty wrist, and it unfolded into a duel disk, much to Jess' surprise.

"You humans have some pretty interesting gadgets, I must say," It said as it pulled a deck from it's peeling skin and slid it in. "Got this little thing after killing a rather cocky Duelist. Oh the screams you humans give when you're being ripped asunder is just…so much fun!"

Jess winced a little and backed away, thankful that they were in a rather large room, probably for Damian's sake. She wouldn't be surprised if Jerian pulled a few strings, and t the same time wondered how many shadows worked in this place. The room would be perfect to duel in. Sliding on her own duel disk, both snatched a hand full of cards off.

"And should I call you by a formal name, or would Ugly work just fine?"

The Ruin Roach sneered. "I believe I found a name that was quite fitting in my time as a human. Call me Edgar."

"Subtle." Jess winced.

"Let's duel!" Both of them shouted.

**(Jess: 8,000) - - - - - - - (Edgar: 8,000)**

"And I'll make the first move, draw!" Edgar shouted as he drew his card. His pincers were moving back and forth, so it would be near impossible to see if it was smiling. It had no mouth!

"And I think I'll start off slowly. I'll set this monster in defense mode, and this single card facedown."

The two brown backed cards appeared in front of the Ruin Roach.

"I think that'll end my turn." He chuckled. "Attack me if you dare."

"Draw!" jess shouted and looked at her hand. Her eyes widened, and she grinned. "I couldn't have asked for anything better. I play the dreaded Chaos Distil!"

The ground behind her erupted and behind her was now a large machine, klunky looking machine, shaped like a pear. Wires and steam burst from the seams, looking ready to blow any second now.

"Now with this spell, any card I control that would normally be sent to the graveyard is now removed from play. But more over, I can start playing these! First of all, the Spell Cards, Lead Compass, Tin Spell Circle and Steel Key!"

The three spell cards appeared on her side of the field.

"Since I have Chaos Distil on the field, these three spells allow me to summon very Special beasts known as Alchemy Beasts, so let's give it up for Leon the Lead!"

A human sized lion made entirely out of lead appeared, roaring. (500/500)

"Salamandra the Steel!"

A winged Dragon made of steel appeared. (500/500

"And Aitos the Tin!"

A large bird made of tin appeared. (500/500)

"Oh, I'm quite scared," Edgar said, "I hope you realize nearly every monster in my deck can destroy those things. And they can't beat my defense, I hope you realize. So you just summoned three weaklings for nothing!"

"Did I mention they can attack you directly?"

"They can do what now?"

The result was instant. Salamandra roared loudly and shot a fireball from it's mouth, striking Edgar. Aitos flapped its wings and blasted him with cold air, while Leon merely pounced on him.

**(Jess: 8,000) - - - - - - - (Edgar: 6,500)**

"Lousy…sons of…" Edgar growled as he picked himself up. "You're digging your own grave, you realize! I can still destroy all of those annoying little things!"

"I'd like to see you try!" Jess shouted as she slipped a card down behind her monsters. "I set one card facedown and end my turn!"

Edgar drew his card with one of his many arms and looked at it. He pressed a button on his disk. "I flip summon Needle Worm!"

The facedown monster flipped up and the dreaded purple spiked worm appeared, writing around. (750/600)

"Which makes you discard the top five cards of your deck, which are removed from play, thanks to your spell card!"

Jess frowned and pocketed the top five cards of her deck.

"Then I summon to the field Shield Worm."

A rather hideous looking monster appeared. It looked like a worm, but it was rotting in all the wrong places, its colors a visible red, black and grey. (800/2,000)

"When it's summoned, it switches itself to defense mode, and you lose one card from your deck for every insect I have on the field."

Jess discarded another two cards while the Shield Worm curled up around itself.

"Then I play the Double Summon Spell Card to summon again this turn, so I think I'll summon Skull Parasite."

Another hideous being appeared. It looked like Shield Worm, but it was covered in black and red slime, the most prominent feature being the large skull it had for a face. (600/600)

"Oh god," Jess whimpered, putting a hand on her mouth, feeling the urge to throw up slowly growing.

"And the best thing about my parasite is it can infect other monsters! Skull Parasite, I equip you to Leon the Lead!"

The worm shot forward and wrapped itself around Leon. The mighty beast let out a low groan, and it kneeled down as the slime worked its way onto its body, eventually falling over. (500/500) --- (0/0)

"So my Parasite not only drains you of 1,000 attack and defense points, but when it's destroyed, you'll lose two cards from the top of your deck. So Needle Worm, attack Leon the Lead!"

The Worm leapt into the air, its spikes gleaming…

"I activate my trap, Amorphous Barrier!"

Before the Worm could connect with the attack, several see through tubes of unknown materials burst through the ground, and blocked it.

"Since I have three monsters on my side of the field, I negate your attack and end the battle phase. Sorry, but no cigar."

Edgar's eyes narrowed, and it looked at his/her/it's? Hand. He grumbled a little. "I end my turn, Bipedal. Do your worst."

"My worst, hm?" Jess drew a card and looked at it. "Well, how's this for my worst? I switch Leon to defense mode, and have Aitos and Salamandra attack you directly!"

The flames and the winds struck the larger insect, making it cry out and take a step back.

**(Jess: 8,000) - - - - - - - (Edgar: 5,500)**

"Then I set one more card facedown, and end my turn…"

Edgar drew his card and pointed to his facedown. "I play my facedown, Compulsory Evacuation Device."

Jess' eyes widened. "You're going to return one of my cards to my hand!"

"Ha! YOUR cards? I'm thinking the bigger picture here. I'll use my cards effect to return Shield Worm to my hand."

The rotting looking worm disappeared, and a card appeared in his hand.

"Then, I summon Walker Parasite."

Another parasite appeared, making Jess grimace. This one had four long stick like legs, and black and blue slime dripping from its body. (1,600/1,400)

"And when my Walker Parasite attacks a monster equipped with a Parasite monster, he gains 300 Attack points, so let's give her an example! Walker Parasite, attack Leon the Lead!"

The parasite spat out a glob of smoking acid shot from its mouth and struck Leon, melting it into a puddle.

"Which means, since I destroyed a monster equipped with my Skull Parasite, you lose 2 cards from the top of your deck."

Jess reluctantly discarded two more cards.

"I'll switch Needle Worm to defense mode…"

Needle Worm curled up on itself.

"And end my turn."

"Draw!" Jess drew her card and looked at it. "I set this card facedown and play Black Process – Negledo. Since I have no cards in my hand, I can destroy all my Alchemy Beasts and draw two cards for each one."

Salamandra and Aitos exploded into pixels, and she drew four cards.

"Then I play a few more spell cards! Mercury Hourglass, Silver Key and Bronze Scales!"

The three spells appeared, and three more bursts of energy exploded from the ground. IN front of him appeared a fish made of mercury, a large faceless clump of silver, and a snake made of bronze appeared. (500/500) X 3.

"Echeneis the Mercury, Moonface the Silver and Ouroboros the Bronze, attack him directly!"

Echeneis fired a burst of water from it's mouth…

"Hold it right there, human! I play my trap card, Relieve Monster. Since you declared an attack, I can take a monster in my field, place it in my hand, and replace it with a new one! So Needle Worm comes back, and I'll summon Shield Worm in his place."

Needle Worm vanished, and the rotting worm appeared in front of him again. (800/2,000)

Jess frowned and discarded another two cards. Echeneis' water, Moonfaces body, and Ouroboros shriek struck Edgar, knocking it baack.

**(Jess: 8,000) - - - - - - - (Edgar: 4,000)**

"Wow, I really need to say, this is boring," Jess sighed a little. "I mean, I figured a Ruin Roach would put up more of a fight than this…I haven't even LOST a life point yet."

"That's going to change in a second!" The Ruin Roach shrieked. "Draw!" He drew his card quickly and sneered at it.

"I set one monster in defense mode…" A defense position monster appeared. "But he's not going to stay long! I play my Spell, Book of Taiyou, flipping my monster prematurely and activating it's effect!"

"I'm not scared of Needle Worm!" Jess challenged.

Edgar grinned as the monster began to flip itself. "Who said anything about Needle Worm?"

The monster that appeared a little bit more notorious than Needle Worm. Coated in orange and green slime and writing tentacles. It shrieked. (300/500)

Jess gasped. "Parasite Paracide!"

"That's right, and he's gonna find a new home in that deck of yours!"

The insect leapt through the air and into Jess's deck. The automatic deck shuffling system shuffled it for her.

"Now Walker Parasite, attack Moonface!"

The parasite hissed and fired a ball of acid at the clump of silver, melting it down into a puddle.

**(Jess: 6,900) - - - - - - - (Edgar: 4,000)**

He looked at the Needle Worm in his hand, and nodded. "I end my turn, human."

"Draw!" jess shouted, drawing a card. Her eyes laid on it, and she placed it in her hand.

_Oooh, I could always attack him with both ouroboros and Echeneis…but both would be in attack mode, and I'd lose more and more Life Points…I don't wanna risk losing anymore Life Points…at least until I can get a good card…_

"I just switch Echeneis and Ouroboros to defense mode, and end my turn."

Echeneis and Ouroboros curled up on their sides.

"My turn then, draw!" Edgar laughed and drew his card. His eyes focused on the new card, and grinned. "I play the Jade Insect Whistle!"

A large, crudely made whistle appeared in front of him.

"Now by announcing an Insect monster in your deck, it's put on top of your deck. Give you three guesses who I'm picking."

Jess frowned and placed the Parasite Paracide in her deck on top of her deck.

"Now Walker Parasite, attack Echeneis and put it on the fillet!"

The insect like beast shot another blob of acid at the Alchemy Beast, melting it into a puddle.

"I'm sorry, I'm sure you were saying something about this being too easy. It looks to me like this the table have moved! I'll set one monster in defense mode, then I end my turn."

Jess drew a card and screamed as a bolt of electricity struck her from her disk, and the new monster appeared on her side of the field. Parasite Paracide rested there. (500/300)

Ouroboros glowed a little, and its eyes became compounded, and feelers grew from it's head.

Jess closed her eyes and grunted. _I don't think I can do this…he could possibly just summon something even bigger next turn! I'll be wide open, but I can't just stand here and do nothing…I need to attack, and…wait, what were my facedowns again?_

She checked her cards, and blinked.

_I'm such an idiot…_

"I switch Ouroboros to Attack mode."

The smaller snake uncoiled itself.

"And have him attack you directly!"

The snake hissed and fired it's pulse of energy, striking Edgar and knocking him back.

"You just switched your monster to attack JUST to deal me 500 Points of damage?" He chortled. "You must really wanna lose!"

Jess glared at him and said nothing.

"Slent, eh?" Edgar asked, drawing his card. "Fine, I can always MAKE you scream! I summon Claw Parasite!"

Another small slime colored parasite appeared, covered from head to toe in needle, claws, and black slime. (700/500)

"And the best thing about Claw Parasite is…he's a tuner monster! So I'll tune him and my Walker Parasite to make one of the most feared monsters in this deck!"

The two monsters flew into the air and exploded into a total of five stars. A massive figure fell on the ground before Edgar. A larger parasite covered in emerald green slime, and four large tentacles writhing out of its sides. (2,300/400)

"Oh my," Jess grimaced, her face contorted in disgust.

"Parasite Tentacle, attack Ouroboros!"

One of the tentacles launched itself at the snake, intent on smashing it.

"I play my facedown, Elemental Blockade!" Her facedown flipped up. "By discarding one monster in my deck from play, I can negate all damage done to me this turn by monsters of the same attribute!"

She took a card and showed it to Edgar, revealing it to be Sangan.

"So now all damage done to me by Dark types are reduced to 0."

The tentacle slammed down on the Snake, smashing it into atoms.

**(Jess: 5,900) - - - - - - - (Edgar: 3,500)**

Edgar growled and shook his head. "So you got lucky," He growled, "I'll just get you next time. In case you didn't realize, you have a Parasite there about to make everyone of your monsters insects…and that could benefit me in more ways than you could imagine."

"Draw!" Jess shouted, drawing a card. She looked at it, and grinned. "Perfect! I activate Nightmare Steelcage!"

Edgar watched in a bored manner as flames appeared around him, forming into a large, criss crossing steel cage around him.

"That'll hold you." Jess said. "I'll end my turn."

Edgar drew his card and looked at it. "Hm, well, since I can't attack you, I may as well build up my forces. I play the Spell card, Worm Bait."

The spell appeared on his field.

"Since I have Shield Worm on my side of the field, I'm allowed to summon two Worm Tokens."

Two worm s appeared in front of him, rust colored and mouth like patterns on their chest. (0/0)

"Then, I'll flip summon Needle Worm."

Needle Worm appeared again. (750/600)

Jess grimaced and discarded another five cards.

"You're getting a little thin in a deck, meat-Sack," Edgar chuckled, his pincers snapping eagerly in front of his face. "Little bit longer and I'll just be able to take you down then."

"Shut up and end your turn, you roach…" Jess said, narrowing her eyes.

Edgar cackled and slipped a card into a disk. "I end my turn my setting this one card facedown."

Jess drew her card and winced. "I pass."

Edgar drew his card and gestured. "I sacrifice a Worm token to summon…Armored Centipede!"

One of the smaller tokens vanished into a vortex of light, and in its place appeared a massive centipede with an armored carapace appeared. (1,600/1,300)

"However…' He grumbled. "Since you humans seem to try so hard to survive, I must end my turn. Which means that this feeble thing breaks apart…" He chuckled. "Now."

True enough, the cage dissolved, and the lager insects shrieked in anticipation, either writhing or snapping their pincers.

Jess drew again and looked at it. Growling low, she added it to her hand. "Dammit…" She mumbled, adding the card to her hand. "I have to end my turn…"

"Excellent!" Edgar drew a card and looked at it. He snarled.

_I can't attack that Parasite…not yet anyway! It'd ruin all of my plans…_

"I'll just set this facedown…and end my turn." He snarled a little. "Make your turn count, meat-sack…this is your last."

"We'll see about that!" Jess drew a card and bit her lip.

_Dammit, Jerian, Angua, where are you?! I can't keep this thing off me for much longer…if this thing wins…oh, don't think like that! There's something you have to do!_

"I summon Dimensional Alchemist!"

Wearing platinum armor, the fairy that was most imfamous for being one of the lesser monarchs appeared before her. (1,300/200)

"And then…" She began, "I'll use my Alchemists effect! By removing the top card of my deck from play…"

Taking the top card of her deck, she looked at it and pocketed it.

"And Alchemist gains 500 Attack for this turn. It may not be much, but I can at least get rid of ONE of your monsters."

Alchemist began to glow and formed a ball of dark energy between his hands, rising to 1,800 Attack points.

"Attack Armored Centipede!"

The Alchemist let out a loud grunt and flung the chaos ball at the larger, armored insect…

Edgar pointed to his facedown. "I activate my facedown, Genocide Averted! Now for this turn only, all monsters on my side of the field can't be destroyed by monsters of the same type on your field. So that means your insects can't destroy MY insects."

The ball collided with the larger insect, and all it did was let out a shriek of rage, clashing its pincers together in anticipation of ripping apart Dimensional Alchemist.

**(Jess: 5,900) - - - - - - - (Edgar: 3,300)**

Jess winced at the stolen opportunity to destroy the monster and gulped. She had a feeling that, whatever was coming up next, it was going to HURT.

"I…" She whispered, defeated. "I…end my turn…"

Edgar drew his card. Upon seeing it, he let out the most shrieking, horrible laugh that made Jess cringe. Out of the corner of her eye, she could have sworn she saw Damian shift in his bed. Was he waking up?

"Sorry to do this to ya, meat-sack, but I got places to be, people to be and all that!" He laughed loudly. "I'll start by playing my facedown, Nightmare Archfiends!"

The trap card flipped up.

"Now by offering a monster on my side of the field, I can make three Archfiend tokens on your side of the field!"

Shield Worm was sucked into the hologram of the card, and three bursts of energy shot from the card itself and landed on Jess' field, revealing a trio of three sickly thin, green haired demonic beings with insane grins and bright, red eyes. (2,000/2,000)

"Best part about these guys is everytime I destroy one, you get another 800 points of damage! But hey, I'm feeling a little destructive! I'll summon to the field another favorite of mine: Bomb parasite!"

A worm appeared in front of him, this one was jet black and colored with a large skull and crossbones in the back of its body. On the end was a burning wick, slowly traveling its way upward towards the body. (600/200)

"And like my other parasite monsters, I can equip this one onto a monster of yours!"

The Parasite slithered forward and wrapped tightly around the Archfiend, making it shriek in confusion.

"Now the best part is when I DO destroy your monster, you'll lose another 200 Life Points for every star it has, and your new Tokens happen to have 6!"

"So you're going to attack my Archfiend then!" Jess gasped.

Edgar chuckled darkly. "Not just ONE Archfiend, meat-sack…all of them! Parasite Tentacle, attack her three archfiend monsters with Cataclysmic Tentacle!"

Much to Jess' shock, the four tentacles stretched to amazing lengths and slapped each of the archfiends, each one shrieking before exploding and shattering in the air. The one with the Bomb Parasite exploded much more violently, enough to make Jess fall flat on her backside.

"And Armored Centipede, I think, wants to take care of your Dimensional Alchemist for being such a cocky bastard."

Armored Centipede rushed forward and bit into the Alchemist. It snapped the monster in half, and he exploded.

"And another little tidbit about my Armored Centipede, when he DOES destroy an insect monster as a result of battle…well, he gains 500 Attack points."

Armored Centipede began to glow bright green and rose to 2,100.

**(Jess: 900) - - - - - - - (Edgar: 3,300)**

"See what I got set up here, doll?" Edgar asked. "I mean, I got a monster here that thrives a little bit every time I destroy an Insect monster, Armored Centipede gets a little strong, and if you DO get a swarm going on, I can just use Tentacle to wipe them all out! You can't win, meat-sack!"

And suddenly, Jess began to laugh, taking Edgar by surprise.

"Hey! What's so funny?!"

"You are!" She laughed a little bit louder. "You think you have the perfect combo, going on? Or what you THINK is the perfect combo? I don't see how, you're just an idiot!"

"What?!" Edgar shrieked. "How dare you?!"

"Well, I want you to think of the big picture." She said. "You could have won right here and now if you didn't feel like showing off your combo. You could have attacked everyone with Tentacle Parasite, and THEN attack me with Armored Centipede! You could have won if you didn't feel like show boating your combo."

Edgar was speechless, and he looked to his field again. Indeed, he could have won. He twitched a little bit and shrieked again, tilting his…head back a little bit and making Jess gasp and clutch her ears tight.

"I don't care!" Edgar shouted in anger. "I still have the advantage, I still have the field advantage! If you happen to draw anything would be nothing short of a Miracle!"

Jess drew her card and didn't look at it just yet. In her hand was another copy of Chaos Distil, Soul Absorption, and another Dimensional Alchemist. She didn't have anything to use this turn.

Her eyes drifted to the new card and paused.

_This is taking a MASSIVE risk._ She thought to herself as she looked at the field in question. _Oh well…not like I'm all ready in a tight situation…_

"I play Card of Sanctity!"

A massive black hole suddenly appeared above the head.

"Are you insane?!" Edgar shouted. "No one uses that card anymore, not since they bumped up the Errata! Now it's one of the riskiest draw cards in the game!"

"Got nothing else to lose!" Jess challenged, holding up her hand. "Now by removing all of my cards in my hand and all the cards on my field, I can now draw two cards!"

All of the cards in her hand flew up towards the Black hole, and the Chaos Distil suddenly flew up and vanished into the gaping maw. Closing her eyes, she drew two cards.

She looked at the new cards, and she beamed at Edgar, a devious grin crossing her lips.

"Sorry, this looks like the end! I play Dimension Distortion!"

Another rainbow colored portal appeared above her.

"Since I don't have any cards in my graveyard, I'm allowed to summon a monster that's been removed from play, and I know the perfect one!"

"Go ahead!" Edgar shouted. "I can handle anything anything I've destroyed! I did it then and I can do it again!"

"Oh, you got rid of it, that's for sure, but you haven't faced anything like this before!"

A thunderous boom echoed around the large room, and it made Edgar shout out in surprise. It was a beast that barely fit in the room, and looked like a rocky substance, humanoid in shape, and looked like it was made of solid gold. (1,500/1,500)

"Golden Homunculus!" Jess shouted triumphantly. "And I have to thank you, because of all the cards you've removed for me, he's hit the highest attack in my dueling career!"

(12,900/12,900)

"Gah!" Edgar shouted in horror.

"Golden Homunculus, attack his Parasite Tentacle!"

The giant beast lifted its fist up…

Edgar screamed as the attack sent him flying back into the wall. The resulting attack destroyed the parasite as a result.

Jess let a sigh of relief escape her lips…

**(Jess: 900) - - - - - - - (Edgar: 0)**

"That's game, bug," Jess grinned a little bit. "Now go about your way, and don't bother us again."

"You…you lousy…meat-sack!" Edgar groaned as he picked himself up. "You think you can just…talk to me like that!" his stinger came from his back. "I'm killing that human, one way or another, and there's not a damn thing you could do to stop me!"

He flung himself at Jess…

SCHWING!

Half of Edgar landed on the ground, and the other landed a little bit off to the side. The look on Edgar's otherwise expressionless face froze in a glance, staring into forever.

"I must say Jess," Jerian said as he walked into the room, sheathing his sword. "Not a lot of non-Shadowchasers are capable of holding their own against a Ruin Roach." He walked over to her, grabbing her shoulder. "Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?"

Jess shook her head a little bit. "No." she mumbled. "That Spell that Scraps used managed to protect me and Damian…"

"So long as you're not hurt.' He let out his own sigh of relief. "Speaking of which…' He looked around for a moment. "Where IS Scraps? Don't tell me he left you and Damian all alone! When I see him…" A low growl escaped his lips.

"It's weird though," Jess said, trying to calm the Samurai down. "He just walked out like he was in a daze…"

"Well, then, we should go look for him…"

However, before they moved, they heard a rustling sound coming from Damian's direction. A low groan was followed, and the sound of someone moving.

"Oh…" Damian groaned as he grabbed his head. "My head…what hit me?"

"Damian!"

…

Chaos Distill  
Type: Spell/Continuous  
Image: A large, shaking machine, shooting smoke out of it's cracks.  
Effect: As long as this card is on the field, any card that would be sent to the graveyard is removed from play instead.

Silver Key  
Type: Spell  
Image: A large, silver key.  
Effect: Activate only when you have "Chaos Distill" on your side of the field. Special Summon "Alchemy Beast – Moonface the Silver" from your deck or hand.

Bronze Scales  
Type: Spell  
Image: A pair of bronze scales.  
Effect: Activate only when you have "Chaos Distill" on your side of the field. Special Summon "Alchemy Beast – Ouroboros the Bronze" from your deck or hand.

Mercury Hourglass  
Type: Spell  
Image: An hourglass made of mercury.  
Effect: Activate only when you have "Chaos Distill" on your side of the field. Special Summon "Alchemy Beast – Echeneis the Mercury" from your deck or hand.

Lead Compass  
Type: Spell  
Image: A compass made of metal.  
Effect: Activate only when you have "Chaos Distill" on your side of the field. Special Summon "Alchemy Beast – Leon the Lead" from your deck or hand.

Steep Lamp  
Type: Spell  
Image: A steel lamp.  
Effect: Activate only when you have "Chaos Distill" on your side of the field. Special Summon "Alchemy Beast – Salamandra the Steel" from your deck or hand.

Tin Spell Circle  
Type: Spell  
Image: A circle being filled with tin.  
Effect: Activate only when you have "Chaos Distill" on your side of the field. Special Summon "Alchemy Beast – Aitos the Tin" from your deck or hand.

Alchemy Beast – Leon the Lead  
Type: Beast/Effect/Earth  
Attack/Defense: 500/500  
Stars: 3  
Effect: This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card can only be Special Summoned by the effect of "Lead Compass". This card can attack your opponent directly.

Alchemy Beast – Moon Face the Silver  
Type: Rock/Effect/Dark  
Attack/Defense: 500/500  
Stars: 3  
Effect: This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card can only be Special Summoned by the effect of "Silver Key". This card can attack your opponent directly.

Alchemy Beast – Echeneis the Mercury  
Type: Fish/Effect/Water  
Attack/Defense: 500/500  
Stars: 3  
Effect: This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card can only be Special Summoned by the effect of "Mercury Hourglass". This card can attack your opponent directly.

Alchemy Beast – Salamandra the Steel  
Type: Dragon/Effect/Fire  
Attack/Defense: 500/500  
Stars: 3  
Effect: This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card can only be Special Summoned by the effect of "Silver Lamp". This card can attack your opponent directly.

Alchemy Beast – Aitos the Tin  
Type: Winged-Beast/Effect/Wind  
Attack/Defense: 500/500  
Stars: 3  
Effect: This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card can only be Special Summoned by the effect of "Tin Spell Circle". This card can attack your opponent directly.

Alchemy Beast – Ouroboros the Bronze  
Type: Reptile/Effect/Light  
Attack/Defense: 500/500  
Stars: 3  
Effect: This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card can only be Special Summoned by the effect of "Bronze Scales". This card can attack your opponent directly.

Black Process – Negledo  
Type: Spell  
Image: A kaleidoscope of colors, with black being the prominent one.  
Effect: Activate only when you control a face up "Chaos Distill" and you have no cards in your hand. Remove form play all "Alchemy Beast" monsters you control. Draw 2 cards from your deck for each card that was removed from play by this effect.

Note: The above 14 cards were first used by Anmael in the Anime Episode "Anmael's Endgame Pt 1". All creative credit goes to the writers of that episode.

Amorphous Barrier  
Type: Trap  
Image: Several bright purple criss-crossing rods.  
Effect: Activate when your opponent declares an attack and you control 3 or more monsters. End the battle phase.

Note: Amorphous Barrier was first used by Daichi in the anime episode "Formula for Success". All creative credit goes to the writers of that episode.

Armored Centipede  
Type: Insect/Effect/Earth  
Attack/Defense: 1,600/1,300  
Stars: 5  
Effect: When this card destroys an INSECT-monster as a result of battle, increase this cards ATK by 500.

Note: Armored Centipede was first used by Insector Haga in the anime Episode "On the Wrong Tracks" All creative credit goes to the writers of that episode.

Skull Parasite  
Type: Insect/Effect/Dark  
Attack/Defense: 600/600  
Stars: 2  
Effect: Equip this card to an opponents monster. The equipped monster loses 1,000 ATK and DEF. When the equipped monster is destroyed in battle, the opponent discards the top two cards of their deck.

Walker Parasite  
Type: Insect/Effect/Dark  
Attack/Defense: 1,600/1,400  
Stars: 3  
Effect: When this card attacks an opponent's monster that is equipped with a Parasite monster, this card gains 300 ATK.

Claw Parasite  
Type: Insect/Tuner/Dark  
Attack/Defense: 700/500  
Stars: 2  
Effect: When this card is used in a Synchro Summon, add one "Parasite" card from your deck to your hand.

Tentacle Parasite  
Type: Insect/Synchro/Dark  
Attack/Defense: 2,300/400  
Stars: 5  
Effect: 1 Tuner + One or more non-Tuner "Parasite" monsters.

This card can attack all monsters your opponent controls. If you use this effect, this card cannot attack directly.

Note: The above 4 Parasite monsters were made by Duelerking and used with Permission. All creative credit goes to him.

Bomber Parasite  
Type: Insect/Effect/Dark  
Attack/Defense: 600/200  
Stars: 2  
Effect: Equip this card to an opponents monster. When the equip monster is destroyed by battle, deal damage to the opponents life points equal to the monsters LV X 200.

Note: Bomber Parasite was made by Metal Overlord 2.0 and used with Permission. All creative credit goes to him.

Genocide Averted  
Type: Trap  
Image: The Doctors from DNA Surgery watching in the Background as Dark Ruler Ha Des, covered in metal plating, strikes against a Machine King.  
Effect: During this turn, monsters cannot destroy monsters of the same type as they are in battle.

Elemental Blockade  
Type: Spell/Quick-Play  
Image: Elemental Heroes Avian, Burstinatrix, Clayman, Bubbleman and Sparkman blocking a beam of energy from hitting Elemental Mistress Doriado  
Effect: Discard one monster from your deck. During this turn, you take no battle damage from monsters of the same Attribute as the discarded monster.

…

I'd like to Apologize to all for this chapter, it could have been better so please don't flame it TOO hard.

Well, it looks like Damian's up, and all's well and good, but what went wrong with Scraps? Next turn, we get another glimpse at the dreaded Sons of Tyranny when Scraps goes against one of the main members himself! And trust me when I say it's like nothing you'd expect. "Psychic Kappa" coming soon.


	11. Psychic Kappa

Disclaimer: I do not own the Yu-Gi-Oh Franchise, nor do I intend to make money from it. I do not own the Shadowchasers, that belongs to Cybercommander. Any characters you see belong to me.

…

"You guys, I'm FINE." Damian said as he attempted to get out of the bed he was laying in. "I've been resting for an entire day and…okay, ow." A groan of pain escaped him as he laid back in his bed, holding his chest, wincing.

"The Doctor said you'd broken three ribs." Jerian lectured from the foot of the bed, crossing his arms "That's more than enough of a reason for you to stay in bed for the time being."

"Psh." The dark haired Shadowchaser said with a grumble, laying back on his bed and closing his eyes. "My head hurts too…"

"Well, that would be just because you're thick in the head," Jerian joked, a smirk crossing his face. "So, mind telling us what you remember before you feel and lost consciousness?"

Damian was silent for a moment, before letting out a tired sigh. "Knowing you guys, you went out to find out some answers for yourself."

"Angua and I both did," Jerian spoke. "I learned about an interesting history between Giovanni and the group, the Sons of Tyranny."

Damian winced at the mentioning of that name, and Jerian sat down beside the bed with Jess. "Something's telling me you know more about this group than you're letting on."

"Where's Angua?" Damian asked a moment later, in a vain attempt to change the subject.

"Do not change the subject, Damian." Jerian said sternly. "There's something going on here, and like it or not, you're going to tell us."

Damian looked off to the side, blinking in as he looked around. "Where's Scraps?"

"Damian!" Jerian sighed, exasperated.

"No, I'm serious, where's Scraps?" Damian asked, sitting up and letting out a shivering whimper of pain as his ribs throbbed in pain. "Usually whenever I'm in the hospital, he's here."

"Scraps just…left." Jess said. "But Damian, that's another story for another time, if you know anything about what's going on, about why my father died, about why you're in this hospital…" A look of pleading concern fell across her face. "Please, tell us!"

Damian looked off to the side and shook his head. "I'd managed to keep this a secret for a long time," A reluctant sigh escaped him. "It's a history I'm not exactly proud of."

"Proud or not, we need to know if we are to help you." Jerian said, leaning forward. "What is going on?"

Damian was silent for a moment before another sigh escaped him.

"I've done a lot of things in my past that I'm not exactly proud of." He murmured, his eyes looking up towards the ceiling, "I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want anything to change my history as a Shadowchaser."

"Just tell us Damian." Jerian said softly. "We wish to help."

Silence washed over the room, and Damian sighed.

"I-"

"He's an old member of the Sons of Tyranny." Came a voice from the doorway.

All eyes turned and saw Angua standing there, her eyes narrowed at Damian and her arms crossed.

"Isn't that right, Damian?"

…

Scraps finally blipped back to the closest thing a robot could call consciousness in the middle of an empty street. The wind blew quietly, causing his trench coat to shift in the wind as he looked around, really quite confused. How had he even got here? Wasn't he in the hospital with Master Damian and Jess?

He glanced around somemore and found he was pretty much alone in the street. A few buildings and stores were open, but there was hardly anyone else outside, just a man reading the paper on a bench and a hot dog vendor.

Suddenly, the crackle of a radio transmitter sounded inside his head, forged together from a GPS and an old walkman alerted him, and he suddenly perked to life, listening to the voice speak.

"…Please advise…reported disturbance…Sushi Bar…immediate attention…218 N Rodeo Drive…."

"218?" Scraps perked up and looked at the street signs. "My, it would seem I'm quite close. While I'm here, perhaps it would be better if I helped out the police before they arrive, make things a little bit easier for them."

He walked down the street, his feet making loud thudding sounds as he went on the move again.

…

The bar that had been in the report itself was in complete shambles, the entire inside looking as though a miniature tornado had hit it. The tables had turned over, chairs were splintered, glass littered the ground, and food had splattered all over the walls, making it seem like a chaotic painter had attempted to pain his master piece with Sushi.

A single table and a single chair hadn't been destroyed or overturned and sitting in the chair was quite possibly the cause of the destroyed bar.

The man was a hunched over looking man, his eyes wide, watery and bulkgy, his hair a stringy silver blonde, and he seemed extremely twitchy. He was wearing a leather biker's jacket. He was currently playing knife roulette…with a plastic spork.

"Doo-Doo-Doo-Doo-Doo-Doo…" The strange looking man hummed blissfully as the spork went between his spread open fingers, hand pressed tightly to the table. As the seconds passed, he began to pick up speed as well, as did his humming.

"Doo-Doo-Doo-DooDooDooDooDoodooDoo-OUCH!" he yelped in pain as the utensil hit against the table and open space, or so it seemed. To an Aware, however, what he had really hit was a webbed membrane between his fingers.

For those who were Aware, he wasn't a human in any sense. His body was scaly and similar to that of a turtle, with a large shell on his back, his fingers webbed and wet looking. His eyes were large and bulging, watery looking, his lips flat and duck light, and his hair was similar to that of seaweed, wet and rubbery looking.

The Kappa pouted and glared at the spork. "Can't play with that." He said absently, throwing it over his shoulder and into a pile or other things he had used to play with, including, forks, sporks, spoons, knives, blades, and what have you. "Minamochi wishes he had his knife again, but the white coat people didn't want him to have…" He paused and tapped on his chin. "What they call it? Homi-ci-dal ep-episodes? Yeah, Minamochi wishes he had those still."

His watery eyes scanned the completely torn apart bar until his eyes rested on the karaoke machine off to the side, and with a little giggle of excitement, he hopped up to it.

Outside, Scraps approached the bar and looked up at it. "Well, this is the right address. But how can I be sure the assailant in question is still here?"

His vision suddenly went static as the music of Journey, played by what could only be a dying animal erupted from the bar, and Scraps shook his head, hitting it with dull, hard clunks.

"That answers my question…"

He walked into the bar and his sensors scanned the area, seeing the odd looking frog like creature off to the side, singing, and effectively butchering, Anyway You Want It, by Journey.

"Excuse me, my good sir!" Scraps exclaimed, catching the attention of the Kappa in question. "But I must ask as to why you've decided to destroy such an innocent building?"

The Kappa blinked a little bit as his eyes focused on the otherwise overly dressed human. He was completely frozen.

"Ah! Yes," Scraps said. "Being a Kappa, you respond to kindness and politeness. Yes." He nodded and took a deep bow…

He would have blinked in surprise as he felt the slimy little beast clinging to his head, attempting to twist his head in a snapping motion. Scraps stood up as the Kappa continued in its obviously ineffectual attempts to snap his neck.

"Excuse me," Scraps spoke up, his sensors turning to green in confusion, "May I ask what you're doing?"

"Stupid meat sack can see Minamochi!" The kappa squealed a little, panting a little. "Minamochi need to kill meat sack!"

"Heh, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, my friend," Scraps chuckled as he reached up and grabbed the Kappa in question, pulling it off himself and setting it down. "But I'm afraid that I lack the anatomy and internal structure of a human being."

He pulled his trenchcoat off of his body, while simultaneously body, pulling his fedora off of his head and revealing his metal body.. "I mean you no harm."

The Kappa's eyes widened, and suddenly he giggled loud and shrill, his mouth opened as wet, gasping giggling escaped him.

"Minamochi has found him!" He cried suddenly, hopping up and down in an excited little dance.. "Minamochi has found the Tin man! Minamochi so proud of Minamochi!"

"Now…" Scraps said slowly as he reached his hand down. "Mind telling me what you're doing around here, little guy?"

Minamochi suddenly reached forward and grabbed Scraps' arm, grinning. "Minamochi sent to find Tin man, and Minamochi has FOUND Tin man…"

Scraps' paused for a moment, decided he did want the Kappa grabbing him and he began to pull his arm back…

When suddenly the Kappa, with a loud, wild shriek, heaved the much heavier, taller machine over his shoulder and slammed him into the wall, causing it to shake violently, bits of dust and plaster falling loose and it looked close to collapse.

Scraps' optic sensors opened in surprise as he hung upside down on the wall.

The Kappa cackled a little and hopped up and down. "Minamochi will go high on Sons of Tyranny list if Minamochi takes out Shadowchasers associate!"

_Sons of Tyranny?_ Scraps questioned in his head.

"Minamochi will now destroy Tin man in a duel, just like Master Vlad wants Minamochi too!"

_Who are the Sons of Tyranny_? Scraps thought as he peeled himself out of the wall and landed with a dull on the ground picking himself up as he watched the Kappa hop over to the remaining table and grabbed a Duel Disk that had been sitting there for a while, slipping it onto his wet wrist. _Well, I'm sure they're nothing to worry about. Surely just another second rate gang that I'm sure just wants to raise some hell…well, I may as well appease this beast… _With a grinding click, Scraps' arm suddenly unfolded on itself, forming into his shoddily made Duel Disk.

The Homunculus and the Kappa stared, the water creature still giggling wetly as he rocked on his heels excitedly.

"Let's duel!"

**(Scraps: 8,000) - - - - - - - (Minamochi: 8,000)**

…

"Damian, is this true?" Jerian after the stunned silence passed over the room. "You were a member of the Sons of Tyranny?"

Damian was silent for a moment, obviously not wanting to answer, but then he let out a soft, depressed sigh.

"It was a long time ago, it seems." He said quietly, falling back against the pillow. "But….yeah…at a more delicate point in my life I joined the Sons of Tyranny."

"You joined one of the most dangerous, lethal biker gangs in all of North America?!" Angua shouted as she stormed over to him, grabbing the delicate Shadowchaser and shook him, making him wince, "What in gods earth would make you do that?!"

"This is quite a problem, Damian." Jerian said, crossing his arms as Damian flailed about while Angua shook him some more. "Indeed, how could you join the Sons of Tyranny?"

"Look, if you'll stop damaging my ribs further," Damian gagged and pushed Angua away. "I'll tell you about my back story."

Angua and Jerian looked to each other. This would truly be interesting, mainly for the fact that outside of his current life as a Shadowchaser, they knew VERY little about him.

Damian sighed a little bit and slumped over in his bed, rubbing his neck as he began to think back a little bit.

"See, when most people see me, they think I grew up in a really bad part of a neighbor hood, assumed I was always on the bad part of the law, I was always the bad kid who lived by no one elses rules but my own. But…hell, that's the opposite of how I grew up. I grew up in the near lap of luxery, I was pampered, and my folks were LOADED."

This made both of his partners blink in surprise. Funny, Damian didn't SEEM like the kind of person to be related to anyone of the rich variety.

"See, the only other problem was I was ALWAYS on a leash it seemed, I was always in their sight, I was always living up to their expectations. I was a smart kid, but no where near genius level, but they were always bragging I was a genius and a near deity, and they pushed and pushed and pushed their expectations on me, and frankly, I began to get sick of it. And eventually I found my favorite past time in the form of a trading card."

He ran a hand through his hair and continued speaking. "I got into Duel Monsters when I was around seven years old and became fascinated with it. I began to experiment with Strategies and became one of the best amongst my friends, and I showed a lot of potential in it."

"But mom and dad didn't want me focusing all my times on a card game when I should have been working on my studies, but I managed to sneak in a few games and a little bit more time with it, and finally around…thirteen I think, I found out about Duel Academy. I can't remember how much I begged my mom and dad to let me go, and gods were they reluctant. But I suppose at some point my happiness needed to be taken into account, and they sent me to."

He gave a faint smile at the memory."So began my time at Duel Academy and the beginning of my life…"

…

"I shall go first then!" Scraps shouted as he drew a card. "Draw!"

He looked at his hand and looked at his options. He took one card and slipped it into his disk. "I summon Maternal Junk in Attack Mode." The female like robot appeared in front of him, holding aloft her spatula and frying pan. (300/1,500) "Then, I set two cards facedown and end my turn."Two cards appeared behind the Maternal Junk in soft glows of light.

Minamochi giggled a little bit and put two fingers on top of his deck. "Minamochi turn! Minamochi draw!"

He drew his first card and his wide, watery eyes looked at his hand excitedly. A giggle came from his beak-like mouth. "Minamochi can Special Summon very special frog known as Swap Frog by discarding a water monster! Minamochi discard this…" He held up a monster called Unifrog, and swiftly slipped it into his graveyard.

"And can now Special Summon Swap Frog!" A large, yellow, rather ugly frog appeared in front of him. It had a demonic look in its eyes, covered in ominous red markings, and two stubs on top of its head that looked like horns. (1,000/500)

"Minamochi then play Swap Frog effect! Minamochi can send Level two or lower Aqua-monster from deck to graveyard, free of charge!" A monster called Submarine Frog slipped out of his deck, and he discarded it.

"Swap Frog, attack stupid looking tin person now!"Swap Frog croaked and shot a burst of fire from its giant gullet, making the Maternal Junk shriek and hold up her hands…

"Oh no you don't, my friend! Because I play my facedown Scrap-Iron Scarecrow!" The old, junky looking scarecrow, made entirely out of old parts found merely hanging around a common junkyard appeared in front of the fire and absorbed the brunt of the attack. Its job done, it flipped back down into its set position.

Minamochi was not pleased, as he hopped up into the air once, landed down with a thud and shook his fist. "Stupid Tin Man will pay for his making Minamochi mad!" A new card appeared behind Swap Frog."Minamochi set card facedown, Minamochi end!"

Scraps watched this curiously as he drew his card and looked at it before slipping it in, expressing "I summon Paternal Junk in attack mode." The heavy set machine appeared, throwing a fist forward, while Maternal Junk looked down shyly and Paternal Junk glowed as his effect kicked in. (1,600/1,500) --- (2,100/1,500)

"In junction to having my Paternal Junk on the field, I'll use my Maternal Junk's effect, and add the final member of this family into my hand."Kid Junk jutted out of his deck and he added it to his hand calmly.

"Then, I shall switch Maternal Junk to defense mode."Maternal Junk kneeled down, holding her arms in an X position in front of its chest.

"And then I shall have Paternal Junk attack Swap Frog!"vPaternal Junk began to race forward, pulling a fist back…

"Minamochi isn't stupid! Minamochi play Froggy Forcefield!" The facedown flipped up. "Tin Man stupid to attack frog! Now Froggy Forcefield destroys all Attacking monsters! Bulky Tin Man go boom!"A barrier of energy appeared in front of the frog, crackling ominously.

"Oh no he won't, because I play my facedown, Scrap-Iron Barricade!" Scraps declared and his other set card flipped up. Junk flew out of nowhere and formed a rather shoddy looking barrier appeared around Paternal Junk, blocking and knocking away the energy away from it.

"By using Scrap-Iron Barricade, one monster on my side of the field isn't destroyed by card effects like your trap card. So since he's not destroyed, the attack continues!" Paternal Junk wound and let its punch fly and it collided with the Swap Frog. The smaller creature let out a loud, painful croak before flying back and shattering into pixels.

Minamochi shrieked and hopped back, snarling at Scraps. "Lousy tin man making Minamochi even more mad! Minamochi will destroy tin man!"

**(Scraps: 8,000) - - - - - - - (Minamochi: 6,900)**

…

"My time at Duel Academy was some of the best years of my life, not just because I was actually in my element, but it was there I found out that I was an Aware, I found out I could see Shadows at Duel Academy. It makes sense I suppose, since, when I was with my parents, I was barely even allowed to go outside when I was under their supervision, so I rarely even saw people outside of the help at the house and my own friends, so you can imagine how this had an effect on me." Damian gave a small chuckle.

"Hell, I thought I was going insane when I first saw a gnone dueling someone for a practice test, and it was even more frightening, because it seemed like no one else noticed it! I looked around in a panic, wondering why people were just calmly acknowledging that this creepy little beast was dueling someone else! I figured I was losing my mind, but one day I met someone who would become one of my best friends."

"His name was Leo, and he was an Orc, ya know, big, brutish, but this one…well, this was one of the ones that actually seemed decent. He looked so surprised when I could see through his veil, and he assumed that I was an Aware, and he explained the whole situation to me. Well, eventually, we became fast friends and well, we kinda looked out for each other. He explained the whole world and the Shadows and what not, so I managed to adapt quickly, something my parents I'm sure would be proud of."

I kept dueling and I was having a blast, but then…SHE entered my life. The girl that changed my whole life, my eventual girlfriend, an Ophidia named Sandra."

This caused the entire room to stop. "Wait, you dated an OPHIDIA?" Angua sputtered suddenly. "As in one of the most dangerous, human hating Shadows of all time?"

"I must say, Damian," Jerian said with a small scowl, "That does seem rather foolish from a perspective."

Damian glared at the rest of his friends, running his hand through his hair, "Look guys, calling all Ophidia cold blooded killers is the same as saying all Middle Easterners are Terrorists, or all Germans are Nazis. Case in point, people aren't BORN evil, but a lot of people like Marik and Dartz, had to do with Culture, Upbringing, and Circumstance." He pointed out."So when those like Saramanda start raising hell, people automatically assume that that her actions automatically represent her peoples beliefs, which is a pretty ignorant point of view."

Angua frowned a little and blushed a deep red. She was a werewolf, a creature that legend and popular culture has taught everyone to fear and despise.

Jerian nodded a little bit. "I can see now why Shadows like Glitch, who other Shadowchasers would have a difficult time getting information from open up so willingly to you."

Damian grinned a little and nodded, stating, "I left the part of me that judged people on appearances a long time ago, I mean look at me, I live in the City of Angels and I use some of the darkest monsters in existence. Don't you think I get a few looks?"

"So back to this girl, I bet she was really sweet." Jess giggled a little.

Damian blushed and cleared his throat. "Well, um, actually, I went after her because she was the hottest girl at school and at the time, she thought I was nothing more than a hairless monkey on two legs and, of course, hated me."

The others stared at him, blankly.

"But-But it wasn't always that!" Damian quickly explained. "After a lot of one way duels, I beat her and you can imagine the kind of surprise after that. So after I beat her, she started to see me as more than just another human and we started to…connect, ya know? After a while we started to date, and I started to tell her a little more about myself, as did she. Apparently she was part of this really dark underground Dueling Circuit, where only the best duelists and Shadows came to duel. And well, she figured it would be fun if I went there."

He glanced back at the ceiling, eyes somewhere else than the present. "So I went to my first Underground Duel, and man…man, did my life REALLY start there…."

…

"Minamochi draw!" Minamochi drew his card and looked at it. He showed the card to Scraps excitedly.  
"Minamochi play spell card, Salvage! Minamochi take water monsters with 1,500 or less Attack and add back to hand!" Unifrog and Swap Frog slipped out of his graveyard, and he added it to his hand.

"Now Minamochi discard Unifrog and bring back Swap Frog!" The demonic yellow frog appeared in front of him, this time in defense mode. (1,000/500)

"Minamochi use effect to discard 'nother Submarine Frog…"Another Submarine Frog slipped into his graveyard."Then Minamochi set card down and end turn!"

Scraps drew a card and looked at it. "I'll activate the Field Spell, Junk Factory!"The entire area blurred a bit and when it settled, it had turned into the holographic junkyard, complete with piles of rust old cars tacked atop one another and heaps of broken refrigerators, toasters, TVs and more. Both Paternal and Maternal Junk both began to glow, rising to 2,600 and 800, respectively. "And this field raises their power by four hundred points each!

He slapped a card onto his disk. "Then, I'll add the final member to this family, Kid Junk!" The younger, scrappier member of the family appeared, throwing a punch like his father did while Paternal Junk reached down and rubbed his younger sons head, nodding a little. (300/500) --- (800/500)(2,600/1,500) --- (3,600/1,500)

_Now despite what I may be able to do, I must attack him with Paternal Junk. If I attack his monster with Kid Junk and go in for the kill, I may very well lose Paternal Junk and lose a huge advantage._ "Paternal Junk, attack Swap Frog!"

The larger Junk family member threw a punch and shattered the Swap Frog into pixels, making Minamochi shriek in shock.

"That was…simple." Scraps admitted, "Kid Junk, attack him directly!"

Kid Junk charged forward with a loud yell and leapt into the air, throwing a kick at the Kappa's face and making him shriek in pain, falling over and rubbing his nose tenderly.

**(Scraps: 8,000) - - - - - - - (Minamochi: 6,100)**

"Tin man hurt Minamochi!" He cried, rubbing his nose a little bit more. "Minamochi cannot feel nose!"

"You do not HAVE a nose!"

"YOU DON'T NEED TO REMIND MINAMOCHI!" He screamed, jumping up and snarling. "Minamochi will still destroy you! Minamochi promises!"

Scraps blinked at the suddenly turn of emotion, and nodded. "Very well…I will end my turn…"

Minamochi drew a card and looked at it. With a giggle, he laughed. "Minamochi play Card of Variation! Minamochi now draws two cards, and at end of turn, Minamochi discard one card, or Minamochi get BIG ouchies!" He drew two cards, and he eyed his new cards with an excited giggle. "Minamochi first get rid of ugly field with new pretty field! Minamochi take us to Wetlands!"

The junk yard suddenly vanished, and the two of them were suddenly surrounded by a large swamp area, which was, as the card described, quite wet. "Minamochi's new pretty field gives all watery weak monsters 1,200 Attack points! Minamochi play Limit Reverse, summoning weak monster from grave! Summon Swap Frog!"

The trap card flipped up, and Swap Frog appeared yet again. Now in it's new area, it let out a loud ribbit, and its eyes glowed bright red. (1,000/500) --- (2,200/500)

"Then, Minamochi activate the Spell card, Tuning!" The air suddenly turned Bubblegum pink, and Spirit of the Harp appeared beside him, stroking her chords gently.

"Minamochi love pretty music." Minamochi sighed a little bit. "Soothes Minamochi so much after breaking someone's neck and slitting their throats, covered in their blood…" he giggled a little bit.

"Minamochi's spell very Powerful! Minamochi can take any Synchron monster from deck and add it to hand, so long as Minamochi discard cards from deck equal to monsters Level!"A card slipped out of his deck, and he added it to his hand, showing it to be…

Junk Synchron!

Scraps' eyes widened at the sight of the card, while Minamochi discarded another three cards, which consisted of Poison Draw Frog, another Froggy Forcefield, and Pot of Avarice. "Now…Minamochi summon Junk Synchron!"

In a burst of light in front of him, a rather cute looking creature appeared, thick arms and legs, thick goggles, a long scarf, an an engine on his back. (1,300/300) "Junk Synchron powerful! Minamochi can summon Level two or lower monster from graveyard! Minamochi summon Submarine Frog!"

Junk Synchron gestured, and beside him appeared a frog with a pair of swimming goggles, flippers, and a spear gun appeared. (1,200/600) --- (2,400/600) "Then Minamochi chain to summoning! Minamochi play Inferno Reckless Summon!"

The spell appeared on the field, and Submarine Frog began to glow. Suddenly, two more copies of him appeared on either side. (1,200/600) --- (2,400/600) X 2

Scraps took a step back, his optic sensors changing from a calm green to a paniced yellow.

"This Minamochi's favorite part! TOTAL DESTRUCTION!" He pointed forward excitedly. "Submarine Frog, attack Tin lady!!"

One of the frogs shot its spear, striking the Maternal Junk and making the spear stick out of her chest. She let out a scream as she exploded into pixels. "Submarine Frog even damages through defense! Tin man in for world of hurt!"

Scraps watched in horror, even as Kid Junk and Paternal Junk looked to where Maternal Junk just was.

"Submarine Frog, attack Tin brat!" The second Submarine frog shot its own spear and struck Kid Junk. He looked down in pain and looked up at his father, reaching for him before exploding into pixels.

Paternal Junk fell to his knees, holding his hand out to where his son and wife just were…

"Last Submarine Frog, attack Tin man…the other one!" The Submarine Frog shot its spear and struck the heavy casing of the Paternal Junk. He didn't move, and finally exploded.

"Swap Frog, attack Tin Man directly!" The frog croaked loudly, and shot another blast of fire at Scraps…

"A-Activate trap, Scrap-Iron Scarecrow!" The trap flipped up, and absorbed the attack.

Minamochi glared at him, looking at Junk Synchron. "Well? Attack him!"

Junk Synchron nodded a little, and rushed to Scraps, giving him a hard uppercut and sending him flying into the air, landing with a very heavy thud on the ground, making a good indent in the ground.

**(Scraps: 2,900) - - - - - - - (Minamochi: 6,100)**

Minamochi was cackling at this point, rolling around on his shell, holding his stomach in a long cackle. "Minamochi glad Minamochi dueling Tin Man now! Minamochi LOVE making people suffer, even if they can't suffer!"

"You're…crazy…" Scraps grunted as he picked himself up.

"Why thank you!" He giggled. "Minamochi appreciates that! Now! Junk Synchron, Swap Frog, Minamochi commands you two to tune together for a Synchro Summon!"

Junk Synchron nodded a little bit and grabbed Swap Frog, pulling the rip cord on his engine and flew into the air, bursting into a total of five stars, which began to swirled and danced about before slamming together.

"Cluttering, ugly stars form to create something truly horrifying! From the junk, from the garbage, comes your DEATH! Synchro Summon…JUNK WARRIOR!"

The light burst apart as the new monster struck a pose and ine of the most well known Synchro monster descended to the field, Yusei Fudo's favorite card. But this one seemed different. His otherwise blue armor seemed tainted and stained, his scarf was ripped and torn, and his eyes…there was something not right about his eyes….(2,300/1,300)

"Not only that, but Junk Warrior gains attack to all of the current weak monsters on Minamochi field! And that's current attack, not original! So let's see how strong he gets!"Junk Warrior began to glow along with the Submarine Frogs…

"Now stare into the true destruction of your kind, Tin Man!" (9,500/1,300)

"Good lord…" Scraps stared at the Synchro in what his closest approximation to fear, his eyes flashing yellow.

Minamochi's giggle dwindled down to a chuckle, and for some reason that made it seem so much…worse.

"No lord to save you, tin man…"

…

"So I went to my first Underground Duel, and I have to say…" He shuddered at the memory. "I can kinda see why Kaiser loved it. It was so damn…exhilarating, to have the potential of having your life on the line. I was quickly moving up in the ranks amongst the Shadows, and trust me when I say I got a LOT of respect."

He frowned a bit, the memory obviously bother him a bit. "I think I know why I liked THIS so much. Because it was so different from what my parents taight me and raised me. Because they sheltered me, and was afraid of how I would react if I saw the real world around me. But I was free now, I was getting in danger, I had respect…"

"I had power...." Damian glanced down at his hand and flexed a few times, as he could grasp the power he spoke of. "And it was like a drug. The power was exhilarating. The danger was even worse. I needed more of it, I needed more! So I eventually dropped out of Duel Academy and went out in search for some more of that power, and that was when I first heard about the team…the Sons of Tyranny…"

"SoI tracked them down and asked to join the group. Now, the group was consisted of mainly Shadows, so to see a human asking to join the Sons of Tyranny was a real shock to most, and a big no to the current group I asked to join, saying that a human would just weigh them down in the end."

"That was when Vlad showed up...

"Oh god, you guys should have seen Vlad when I first saw him...he just screamed powerful! He was tall,, his eyes had this flare that told us all he would kill us before we got in his way, and the weird thing was…he vouched for me. Not only did he want in as well, but he wanted to help me get into my inner darkness as well. So he took me under his wing, and well…he showed me the ropes. I was surprised that someone this big and imposing would show me the ropes of how to be a good bad guy." Damian smiled a bit, remebering the times he had spent with the big man fondly.

"Our relationship grew, trust me, he understood me, he actually listened to me, and we always had each other's back, but we made formal pact; If we got in the others way, we would have no choice but to kill them. So I managed to keep out of his way, and he and I joined the Sons of Tyranny, and MAN did we raise hell…

Then the smile faded and replaced a sadden frown."But in a few monts, that changed... Vlad started getting really restless, because he knew out there was a much greater power and he was going to get no where so long as he stayed with the Sons-he had gone as far as he could with them, in his eyes. So he decided to ditch them and head out on his own, to try and see where this greater power could be."

He paused for a moment, and grabbed his chest through his shirt, as if his heart was starting to fail on him. He shuddered a little bit. "I don't know why, but I wanted to stop him. There was something wrong about him wanting more power than he already did, something about it just seemed wrong. Not about abandoning Hextor and something, but the idea about him getting more was just…frightening. So I tried to stop him, and I knew from the start it wouldn't be a good idea. I got in his way."

Damian's face paled a bit as he continued with his story. "He challenged me to a duel-no, a SHADOW duel, and we did. He slaughtered me like no one else could have. There was no remorse, there was no pity, he did as he said: If either of us got in the others way, we would take them down and hard. So I did get taken down by his best monster, and I was left on the side of the road, dying slowly, my clothes had basically evaporated. Vlad said he'd see me later, and road off. I blacked out after that."

Jerian suddenly perked up, this was all seeming very familiar…

"When I woke up…well…I had Jerian looking over me, and asked me if I was all right and making sure I wasn't dead. I didn't know where I was, so…" he sighed a little bit and held his head in his hands. "One thing led to another, and well…after I got back on my feet, Jerian told me about the Shadowchasers. They sounded like the kind of person that helped the others, rather than destroying…well…" He rubbed the back of his head. "I saw what the power does to other people…and well…the opportunity to atone for my choice in life…

"So Jerian took me under his wing, and after going through tests, I finally managed to become one of the Shadowchasers…I kept my past as hidden as possible, because…well, how good would a spread sheet look if they all found out I was in a pretty dangerous biker gang." He chuckled a little bit. "But I was apart of the Shadowchasers now, and it felt like I had something to fulfill, not like looking for power, but…helping people. It was a good feeling. And that's my story…"

"Damian…" Angua said softly, "Why…didn't you tell us about this earlier?"

"Please." Damian sighed. "How would you look at me now if you found out I was part of the sons of Tyranny myself? I've done my own fair share of crimes, and I couldn't let anyone ever figure out what kind of monster I was…"

"Damian," Jerian said as calmly as he could, "While you may be paranoid about your own past…you seem to have atoned yourself for your previous actions. You truly wish to help other people, other shadows, and truly detest what you've done in the past. That's quite admirable, my friend. But I wish you just trusted us enough to tell us?"

"Why?" Damian asked. "So you can scold me about trusting my friends more? So I can be told what a bad friend I am?"

"No," Angua finished for him, "So we can go about kicking ass WITH you."

Damian blinked.

She fixed him with a look."Please, Damian, we've known you for a good two years now, I think. You think we're just gonna give up on you right now? You're our friend, and any way, shape or form, we're gonna help."

"My sentiments exactly."Jerian agreed.

Damian smiled a little bit and slumped back into the bed. "Thanks you guys…um…" he looked around. "Though, now I'm through my monolouging, I think we should go find Scraps…"

"Ah…yes, I almost forgot." Jerian said as he rose up. "Jess, you stay here, Angua and I will go look for Scraps. We shall return."

The younger girl nodded a little as Jerian and Angua made their way to the door, before Angua turned around and walked over to Damian. Suddenly, she grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt, pulled him a little closer…and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

As she walked out, she mumbled something about lousy snake people.

…

"Minamochi end his turn, Tin Man!" Minamochi shouted as the Homunculus stared at the now overly powerful Junk Warrior, just standing there, looking…evil. "But Minamochi no has cards to discard…Minamochi now has to take damage…"

A bolt of lightning struck him, and he shrieked as he fell over, twitching hard.

**(Scraps: 2,900) - - - - - - - (Minamochi: 3,100)**

Scraps shakily drew a card and looked at it. Looking at his new cards, he gulped heavily. "Since…I control no monsters, and you control several, I'm allowed to Special Summon Junk Forward in defense mode!" A rather shodily put together machine appeared in front of him, with stream lined parts to obviously make faster. (900/1,500)

"Then, for my normal summon, I shall summon Junk Blader." The purple armored warrior appeared, brandishing his massive blade. (1,800/1,000) "Then, I shall set one card facedown, and end my turn."

_It all comes down to this._ He thought to himself as he watched the Kappa draw. _If he attacks Junk Forward, I've got a better shot…if he attacks Junk Blader…I've lost.._

Minamochi stared at his new card, and pointed at the other field. "Minamochi attack Junk Blader with Scrap Fist!"

Junk Warrior suddenly shot forward, aided by his jetpacks that let out bright blue flames and threw a punch at the warrior…

"I shall play my trap, Scrap-Iron Scarecrow, negating the attack!" The attack bounced off the Scarecrow, despite heavily denting it.

Minamochi snarled and pointed at the Junk Forward. "Submarine Frog, attack his stupid machine thingy!" One of the Submarine Frogs shot a spear at the defense monster, piercing its chest and blowing it to pieces.

**(Scraps: 2,000) - - - - - - - (Minamochi: 3,100)**

"I play my trap card!" Scraps shouted as his facedown flipped up, "Junk Shield! Since you destroyed my Machine monster, I'm not only allowed to end the battle phase, but summon a new Machine monster from my hand. I summon Junk Operator!"

A much rustier, junkie looking creature appeared, even more so than the other Junk monsters Scraps had summoned. With thick wires sticking from its head, heavy built armor, and a machine gun in his hand. (800/1,300) "And my monster gains 300 Attack points for each Junk monster in my graveyard. And I currently have four."(2,000/1,300)

Minamochi snarled and stamped a foot. "Minamochi cannot attack this turn…Minamochi can still make Tin man die next turn! Minamochi end turn!"

"My turn! Draw!" He snatched his card quickly, and looked at his hand….and a low chuckle escaped from his metal casing. "I sacrifice both Junk Blader and Junk Operator to summon Junk Legend!"

Both of the Junk monsters vanished in pillars of light, revealing in its place the tall, mechanized knight of the Junk monster, glowing as Junk Operators face appeared in the helmet. (2,800/2,200) "And I'll give him not only Junk Operators name, and his effect!" (2,800/2,200) --- (4,600/2,200)

Minamochi let out a small cry of surprise, eyes widening at the machine…but he grinned and giggled. "Stupid Tin man! Minamochi's junk monster is bigger, better, AND stronger than his!"

"I was never aiming for your Junk Warrior, Minamochi, but your ammo for it! Junk Legend, attack one of the Submarine Frogs!" The Knight held aloft his sword and swung it, striking one of the Frogs and making it ribbit in surprise. It exploded into pixels, and Minamochi screamed.

**(Scraps: 2,000) - - - - - - - (Minamochi: 900)**

"I end my turn, Minamochi. I hope you know what to do."

Minamochi drew a card, and giggled loudly. "Minamochi know EXACTLY what to do! Minamochi play spell card, Warrior Returning Alive! Minamochi allowed to take warrior monster from grave and add back to hand!"

Junk Synchron slipped out of his graveyard, and he added it to his hand.

"Now Minamochi summon it again!"

The small, cute looking robotic warrior appeared and gestured, causing Submarine Frog to surface from the Wetlands. (1,300/300) (1,200/600) --- (2,400/600)

"Now Minamochi summon second favorite monster! Minamochi make Synchron tune with TWO Submarine Frogs!" Both of the Submarine Frogs and Junk Synchron flew into the air, exploding into a total of seven stars. A new monster formed from it, an orange, thin looking robot, with a single red eye staring out, and carrying a bow and arrows. (2,300/2,000)

"Junk Archer!" Minamochi shouted. "Make stupid giant tin man go away! Dimensional Shoot!"

Pulling the Arrow back, the Junk Archer shot it's arrow, striking the Junk Legend. It warped a little bit, and finally it disappeared. "Now for the fun part! Junk Archer, at-"

_MINAMOCHI!_ An angry voice bellowed in the Kappa's head so loudly, it made Minamochi's teeth chatter.

_AHHH! Master Vlad! I didn't know you were listening in! Is Minamochi doing well?!_

_Minamochi you idiot, you're suppose to strike them with fear, not destroy them in a duel this soon! If you do, the entire plan is compromised!_

_But Master Vlad, Tin man made Minamochi mad! Minamochi need to destroy him!_

_Minamochi, do you want to make ME mad?_

…_No master …_

_Then drop the duel and GET BACK HERE, YOU IDIOT!_

Minamochi growled a little and gestured. The duel disk snapped back into place, and he growled. "Tin Man gets off easy this time! Minamochi will see him later! Minamochi WILL get his revenge!"

He darted away and jumping through the window, he disappeared by scampering up a building, and vanishing over the edge rapidly.

Scraps blinked in surprise as his own duel disk disappeared, and the holographic images vanished. "What was that all about…?" he asked after a moment of silence. Picking his disguies up from the floor, he donned again and he walked out of the store and down the street, where he ran into Jerian and Angua.

"Master Jerian, Miss Angua!" Scraps cried, wrapping his arms around the two fo them tightly. "I was wondering where you were."

"Scraps," Jerian gasped a little bit, pulling away from him, "Scraps, where did you go? Jess said you just up and left the hospital room."

"Ah, yes. Well, it was the oddest thing. I remember going out of it, and then waking up. Then I dueled this rather interesting little person who claimed to be a member of the Sons of Tyranny."

Both of the humans froze up almost instantly.

"…That's bad, isn't it?"

…

**Card of Variation  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: A single duel monsters card floating in water  
**Effect**: Draw 2 cards. During your end phase, discard one card from your hand to the graveyard. If you cannot, you lose 3000 Life Points.

Note: Card of Variation was first used by Kenzen in the Anime episode, Primal Instinct. All creative credit goes to the writers of that episode.

**Tuning  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: Maiden of the Harp playing a tune on her harp.  
**Effect**: Add one "Synchron" monster from your deck to your hand. Afterwards, discard cards from the top of your equal to the monsters level.

Note: Tuning was first used by Yusei in the anime episode "Web of Deceit" all creative credit goes to the writers of that episode.

**Junk Forward  
Type**: Machine/Effect/Earth  
**Attack/Defense**: 900/1,500  
**Stars**: 3  
**Effect**: When you control no monsters, and your opponent controls one or more monsters, you may Special Summon this card from your hand.

Note: Junk Forward was first used by Yusei in the Manga. All creative credit goes to the writers of that manga.

**Junk Shield  
Type**: Trap  
**Effect**: A large pile of junk protecting a Machine king.  
**Effect**: This card can only be activated when a Machine-Type monster on your side of the field is destroyed in battle. End the battle phase and special summon one level four or lower Machine-Type monster from your hand. During your first main phase, if you have no monsters on your side of the field and this card is in your graveyard, you may remove this card from play to add one level four or lower Machine-Type monster from your graveyard to your hand.

Note: Junk Shield was first made by Lux-Nero and used with permission. Thanks mate!

**Junk Operator  
Type**: Machine/Effect/Earth  
**Attack/Defense**: 800/1,300  
**Stars**: 3  
**Effect**: This card gains ATK equal to the number of Junk monsters in your graveyard X 300.

…

Well, another member of the Sons of Tyranny have been revealed. Next time…not so much, but we have another ally in the wings in the form of Jerian's master, Ario. He's not about to let anyone hurt his cash cow, but can he stop this Shadow in the form of a great warrior himself? Next time "Lost Guardian", coming soon.


	12. Lost Guardian

Disclaimer: I do not own the Yu-Gi-Oh Franchise, nor do I intend to make money from it. I do not own the Shadowchasers, that belongs to Cybercommander. Any characters you see belong to me.

…

"I'm glad you came, Kaizer." Mumbled the very delicate female voice as she stared down at the newcomer, who had been shrouded in the shadows, "You show much more potential than my previous ."

"I'm glad you're pleased, Mistress Ankoku," Rumbled the large, hulking beast. "I aim to please."

"We shall see if you succeed." She whispered.. The woman was a rather gorgeous looking thing, obviously of Japanese heritage, with long, straight black hair that coursed down her back, wearing a fitting two piece business suit. Her eyes were bright, bright blue, the kind that pierced you and looked into your soul, judging you, and showed little to no signs of kidding or playing around. "It all depends on how well you do the job I'm assigning you."

"Of course, mistress." He bowed before her.

From the pocket on her suit, she pulled out a folded up picture, and held it out for the self named Kaizer. On the picture was Ario, Jerian's master and Guardian.

"This is your intended target, Kaizer."

Kaizer stared at the picture in confusion. "You wish for me to go after the Shadowchasers Guardian, Miss? Would it not make more sense to go after the Shadowchaser himself?"

Ankoku sneered, a chuckle escaping from hr thin lips.. "You would not last a minute against Jerian, Kaizer, make no mistake about it. Your intended target is his master."

"But…why?" He asked again. "What does his master have we could not simply acquire from the Shadowchaser?"

"We have reason to believe that his master is also an Aware, and as a result, he's more or less a back up for the Shadowchasers team. And what we need is the Shadowchasers distracted. Vlad has taken out Damian, causing his other three partners to focus more on him. Minamochi is currently drawing the attention away from the Homunculus, and should you take this job, then Vlad and Lazarus will have an open field in which to induct the first plot of the plan." Ankoku explained, her voice completely straight and calm as she stared down at him. "Distract him. Then we shall discuss the terms of your payment."

"Yes, Mistress." He bowed again and stood on his feet, turning around and walking from the room Ankoku had taken in the hide out out.

The woman stared for a moment, her eyes bleeding into a dark, coal like blackness as a handle gently caressed the handle of a blade that dangled from her hip. A small smirk crossed her lips as she leaned back against her seat.

"Did you hear that, you corpse?" She asked into her collar.

An old, worn voice snarled a little bit from the other end of the two way transmitter. "Don't call me a corpse, you rat with wings."

"I'm just saying that if there was any time getting out little playmates, now would be the best time. Minamochi's out, and Kaizer was just sent to do his job."

"Marvelous." The voice grumbled, "We'll be back within the hour."

"I shall await with baited breath." She said calmly, and turned off the communicator. Leaning back, she let a large pair of black wings from her back unfurl…

…

"Blasted," The figure on the other end grumbled as he turned off the communication. "She's such a stuck up little…"

"Now, now, Lazarus," The other figure chuckled. "Keep your head up. There's no need to lose it over a silly thing like an argument."

"Your jokes always were ironic," he grumbled a little as he squeezed his cudgel between wrinkly, rotten fingers. "Come on, Minamochi, I'm sure, can only distract the homunculus for so long. If we're going to do this, we need to do this NOW."

"Lead the way."

…

When Ario first found Jerian wandering around in the woods, he had no idea how far it would take him into this world. Yes, Ario was not a blood relative to Jerian, but Ario took him in none the less. He was a good person that way.

Ario then took it upon himself to teach, raise, and show the small child the ways of the sword. The boy DID show much promise for someone of his age, even if he WAS blind. The poor thing.

Ario was a good guardian to Jerian, he looked out for him, but at the same time he disciplined him, making sure he would prepare himself for the real world. He learned a while ago that Jerian was aware, and it didn't come as much as a surprise, since he was ALSO an Aware. He didn't mind it, seeing as more than half of his opponents had been a Shadow of some kind, and some of his closest allies were Shadows back in Japan as well.

Jerian went on to join the Shadowchasers, and when offered a role himself, Ario claimed he couldn't be tied down with a single occupation, even if it was irony that he had become Jerian's manager so long as he was the champion. The money and everything else was all he needed, and he made a promise to Jerian that, if he did need someone, he'd come to help in a heartbeat. Not only that, he had a feeling that he was gonna be needed soon.

Currently, the aged Samurai was walking through the halls of the mansion that Jerian had basically bought for him. He loved walking through the hall, which was wide, spacious, and reminded him of the good kid Jerian was. The halls were decorated with old momentos of his time in Japan, ranging from the katana he had trained Jerian with, to an old shield that his great grandfather had used. It was more than enough to make the elder smile.

He stopped in mid step, and put his hands behind his back. He looked off to the side, before extending a foot, kicking the shield from it's position on the wall, and grabbed it as it fell. He spun around, just as a few throwing stars imbedded themselves into his shield.

Rather than look any form of serious, Ario was _Laughing_. "Sorry, my friend!" He called out to the shadows. "But if you wanna have any form of beating me, you're gonna have to try harder than that!"

A figure dropped down from the ceiling. It looked like a humanoid, wrapped around tightly in what appeared to be a robe. A pair of bright red eyes stared out from the face, which was also wearing an oni mask.

"I did not intend this to be an easy target."

"Hm." Ario murmured under his breath as he eyed the new comer closely. "Target, hm? I don't think I much appreciate being a target. However, I must say, it does my ego something good to know someone out there is thinking about me."

Kaizer stared at the elderly man, before chuckling. "I must say, for someone of your age, you show quite a bit of vigor!"

Ario laughed and placed the shield on the ground gently. "Battle mage, eh?" He asked. "So I get to throw a few rounds, eh? Sounds like a plan to me!"

Kaizer stared at him through his mask, frowning to himself. _Ankoku only wanted me to Duel him…well, this gives me enough time to whale on him…I've been looking for something to destroy in hand to hand combat…_

Kaizer vanished in a blur, and appeared behind Ario, throwing a punch at the elders back…

Ario spun around and caught the attack flawlessly, chuckling as Kaizer froze in surprise. "Oh come on then, you really think someone of my stature wouldn't be able to fend for myself?" he twisted his fist back, making the battle mage groan and attempt to fight back. "Please, I taught Jerian, the duel monsters champion of Los Angeles EVERYTHING he knows."

As if to emphasis, he threw a punch that slammed into the battle mages face, throwing him back and down the hallway on his back, and made him skid.

"I can take you down even if I was blind folded, my friend. So unless you enjoy having a head between those shoulders, I suggest you move on."

Kaizer groaned and picked himself up, rubbing his jaw tenderly as he felt some blood drip down his face. _Master Ankoku only wished for me to distract him. I cannot distract him and not suffer heavy damage myself…_

He picked himself up, looking at the elderly, mountain of a man.

_I simply cannot give up…I have a job, and to the death, I must finish it!_

Kaizer shrieked and rushed at him, throwing his sword over at him, right at his head in a form of a distraction. Ario tilted his head to the side, causing the blade to pass harmlessly over his shoulder. Before it passed over him, however, he reached up and grabbed the handle.

Kaizers eyes widened, but he blinked as Ario jammed the sword into the ground beside him.

"You're…not going to use the sword?" He asked, his voice full of surprise.

"I don't exactly LIKE to use Swords. Yes, I'm trained well in it, but…fists just seem to be more productive, eh?" He asked, throwing a punch as if to emphasize this. "It brings more along the lines of feeling to the fight, rather than cold, emotionless steel."

"If it is a fist fight you want…" Kaizer growled as he cracked his neck, standing up. "Then it is a fist fight you shall get!"

Kaizer, with another shout, rushed over to Ario at near blinding Speeds, throwing a rapid punch to the face…

Ario didn't even flinch at the attack connected with him, and instead chuckled. He reached over and grabbed Kaizer by the front of his shirt.

"Look here, buddy." He said calmly, that smile never leaving his face. "We've all ready proven that I can destroy you in a fist fight. In fact…" He held up his right thumb, holding it in front of the battle mages face, "Did you know there are at least fifty seven ways I can kill you with _just_ this thumb? It's true you know!"

Kaizer gulped heavily, panting shakily.

"So, I guess that whatever you were sent here for isn't really going to do that much of a good job if you're not on a breathing side."

Kaizer was visibly shaken. _It is true, I cannot be that much of a distraction if the most my distraction would be able to do is hold him off for a few minutes at best…I must find a way to distract him!_

He suddenly looked around, and saw what appeared to be a Duel Disk on the wall, something under it was something about it being Jerian's first.

"I…I challenge you to a duel!" Kaizer exclaimed in a panic. "Yes, a duel!"

Ario stared at the masked man for several minutes, and finally laughed. "Is that all you wanted? A duel?" he tilted his head back and shook his head. "All you had to do was ask, buddy!"

"It's…that easy?" Kaizer asked, blinking in surprise.

"Please, I never pass up a chance to duel! Especially when it's someone other than Jerian, actually. But I digress!" He dropped the battle mage and walked past him. "Follow me! Oh, and if you try anything or break anything, I can and will break your neck." The cheerful attitude never left him.

_What have I gotten myself into?_ Kaizer thought as he followed after him obediently.

…

"Right then!" Ario said as he entered a rather large and spacious dojo. "This shall be our arena, let's hope you're not as bad as your fighting."

"Your words shall be your downfall, old man." Kaizer snarled as he walked to one side of the massive dojo. "For you have no idea the terrors that lie in my deck!"

"I'm quite frightened." Ario said as he shifted a duel disk onto his wrist. "Truly I am, do you see how frightened I am?"

Kaizer glared as he too pulled out a duel disk, and both warriors activated it at the same time.

"Let's duel!"

**(Ario: 8,000) - - - - - - - (Kaizer: 8,000)**

"I believe I shall take the first move, since it's only courteous, after all," Ario snatched a card off of his deck, and looked at what he had to work with. "Oooh…yes, this is quite a good little hand, isn't it?" he laughed a little bit and slapped a card into his disk, "I'll set one monster in defense mode, and follow up with a defense position monster. I think that's enough for one turn, let's see these big beasties you keep talking about."

"Draw!" Kaizer drew a card, and looked at it. With a cackle, he slapped it down on the disk. "I summon Kaiser Sea Horse in Attack Mode!"

A tall intimidating beast appeared, a human dressed in purple and blue armor, holding a massive trident. (1,700/1,600)

"And he shall attack your defense position monster! Shining slice!" The trident swung his blade at the defense monster, revealing what appeared to be a dirty, grey rat appeared on the card. Chattering, it exploded into bits and pieces.

Ario laughed a little and took out his deck. "I'm sure everyone and their grandmother knows what Giant Rat does. Simply put, I get a weak monster to summon to the field. Like my Monk Fighter!"

In front of him, wearing a bright, orange gi outfit, was a man with silver hair. (1,300/1,000)

"A monk deck, I assume?" Kaizer asked. "Quite unexpected…but at the same time, expected. I'll merely set a card facedown, and end my turn." A card appeared behind Kaiser Sea Horse, and that was his turn.

Ario drew his card calmly, and looked at what he had to offer. A chuckle escaped from his lips, and he calmly placed a card into his disk. "I summon Karate Monk in attack mode."

A new figure appeared in front of him. This one seemed like the age old Karate Man monster, but looked more like a younger version of Monk Fighter. He let out a shout and held his hands up, as if to chop something. (1,000/1,000)

"So you've managed to summon two monsters that have no chance against my single monster, congratulations."

"Ah, but what you don't know is Karate Monk's special ability. See, once per turn, his attack points double." Karate Monk shouted and flexed his muscles. His attack rose to 2,000. "Now, I believe we were going to have a little word about my so called…weak monster. Karate Monk, attack Kaiser Sea Horse!"

Karate Monk let out a loud shout and rushed to the monster. Throwing a swift punch at him, he struck the armored being in the chest. Cracks slowly began to form over him, and he exploded into pixels.

"Monk Fighter, your turn! Attack him directly!"

Monk Fighter narrowed his eyes and dashed forward, his palm extended as he struck Kaizer in the chest. The man gasped and backed away, grabbing his chest and gasping.

**(Ario: 8,000) - - - - - - - (Kaizer: 6,300)**

"I think I'm going to call it a turn after all day," Ario chuckled a little. "And since I used Karate Monk's effect, he's destroyed." In a burst of energy, Karate Monk exploded into pixels.

"Before you end your turn, I shall activate my trap card, Fruit of Kozaky's Labor! Now I can look at the top three cards of my deck, and rearrange them in any order I want." He pulled the three cards off, grinned as he looked at them, made a single adjustment, and placed them back in.

Ario frowned as Kaizer drew a card, and showed it to him. "Now I shall activate the effect of my monster, Gallis the Starbeast. Now I can send the top card of my deck to the graveyard. If it happens to be a monster card, you lose Life Points equal to it's level times two hundred, and I get to summon Gallis. If it's not, well, it's a wasted effort."

"And since you used your trap card, you can't miss." Ario frowned.

Kaizer chuckled from behind his mask, and pulled off the top card of his deck, showing it to be…

Gate Guardian.

"You learn fast." He chuckled as suddenly, dozens upon dozens of stars shot down around Ario, making him cringe and take a step back.

**(Ario: 5,800) - - - - - - - (Kaizer: 6,300)**

"And now I'm allowed to summon Gallis, the Starbeast."

A new beast appeared, this one a gryphon, wearing armor, large metallic wings and a star for an emblem. (800/800)

"Well, I will admit, that was clever." Ario said, dusting himself off. "But by getting rid of your key card, you just threw your entire strategy down the drain."

"Silly human," Kaizer laughed, slipping another card into his disk. "You didn't think I wouldn't have a way of getting my monster back? All Gate Guardian duelists know plenty of clever tricks of getting him back. For example, by summoning Herald of Creation."

A human wrapped in rather impressive looking robe appeared. Her body was hidden, showing only her curves. In her hand was a glowing staff. (1,800/600)

"Now I can use her incredibly useful effect," he said, holding up a single card. "By discarding one card from my hand, I can take a high level monster from my Graveyard, and add it into my hand." He discarded said card, and Gate Guardian slipped out. He took it back to his hand. "Now Herald of Creation will destroy your warrior!"

As the staff began to glow bright, Ario cleared his throat, "If I may interject, my Monk Fighter is a ROCK, not a WARRIOR, despite appearances. Second, I'll play my trap card, Lone Wolf! Now with it on the field, and on my Monk Fighter, he's not destroyed as a result of battle, and can't be destroyed by your monster effects!"

The attack struck Monk Fighter, but he merely shrugged it off as if it were nothing.

"What's even better is I don't take damage from Monk Fighter being in battle. So I've got a handy little shield here."

"A minor inconvience, at best," Kaizer said with a growl. Looking over his cards, he frowned and slipped a card into his disk. "This one facedown will end my turn."

"Then let's see what I can do, draw!" Ario drew his card and looked at it. With a grin, he slipped it in. "I'll play Legendary Black Belt and equip it to Monk Fighter!"

A glowing belt appeared around Monk Fighter's waist, and he began to glow as a result.

"now this is going to give my monster a little edge, because now every monster he destroys in battle takes out it's defense in your life points! Now a little revenge is in the works, so Monk Fighter's gonna blow apart that Garris thing!"

Monk Fighter rushed forward, his fists balled up and ready to swing. As soon as he was within striking distance, he threw a punch and hit Garris in the chest. However, nothing seemed to happen, and Monk Fighter walked back to Ario's side of the field, leaving both of his monsters very confused. Suddenly, and rather unexpectedly, Garris exploded into pixels, all of them pelting Kaizer.

"Heh, bit delayed, hm?" Ario chuckled. "Well, whatever gets the job done, hm?"

**(Ario: 5,800) - - - - - - - (Kaizer: 5,500)**

Kaizer snarled as he drew his card and looked at it. Almost immediately, his facedown flipped up, and he snarled through clenched teeth, "I'll play Call of the Haunted, which lets me bring back a fallen monster, like The Creator Incarnate!"

A man wearing what appeared to be gladiator armor appeared, glowing a bright red. (1,600/1,500)

"But he's not going to stay for long, because I'm sacrificing my monster and allow him to be turned into that of a Deity! The Creator!" The Creator incarnate began to dissolve into sparkles of light from the feet up. In his place appeared a massive, statuesque creature that barely fit in the dojo as it was. Made of golden metal decorated with a large ring on it's back, kneeling with both arms in front of his chest. (2,300/3,000). "I think that's an adequate defense, hm? I'll end my turn!"

Ario drew, and a devious glint went off in his eyes. He slipped a card in and a wind storm erupted around the two. "I'll play Giant Trunade to return all of our cards back to our hands!"

The Black Belt, the Lone Wolf, and the Call of the haunted disappeared from the field, and both players caught them. "Know what the reason for this is? Well, we're about to find out! I sacrifice Monk Fighter for Master Monk!"

Monk Fighter began to glow and change. When he was done, he was much older, his hair was longer, and his muscles were enormous. (1,900/1,000)

"Now I'll re-equip him with Legendary Black Belt…" The black belt reappeared on the elderly mans waist line, "And have him attack your Herald of Creation!"

Master Monk bowed to his opponent and rushed forward. He jumped into the air and threw a kick, striking her in the chest and knocking her back. As she fell, she exploded into pixels.

Kaizer winced as the Legendary Black Belt worked it's effect on him..

**(Ario: 5,800) - - - - - - - (Kaizer: 4,800)**

"See, this is what I love about dueling people like you." Ario chuckled as a facedown card appeared to the right of the Legendary Black Belt card. "You think what you're getting is an elderly old man whose appearance suggests he can't go to the bathroom properly, let alone fight. But let it be known, Kaizer, I've taken on bigger and worse challenges than you. I'm giving you the opportunity to walk away before you get too deep into this."

"I cannot…betray…my…mistress." Kaizer growled. "I promise you I will win this duel! Now end your turn!"

Ario nodded solemnly. "Very well. I'll end my turn."

"Draw!" Kaizer drew his card a looked at what he had. With a growl, he slipped in a card beside the Creator. "I'll set this one card facedown, and one monster in defense, ending my turn. But I warn you, despite how your monster can attack twice in one turn; he will never defeat my Creator on his own."

"Until then, each time you set up a monster, I'll gladly take them down, one at a time!" Ario exclaimed. "I draw!" he drew his card and looked at he DID draw. Adding it to his hand, he pointed at the defense monster. "Master Monk, destroy his defense card."

Master Monk threw himself at the defense card and threw a kick at it. A tall, ogre like monster, covered in eyeballs appeared. All of the eyes closed, and he exploded.

"By destroying Big Eye, I can look at the top five cards of my deck and adjust them as I see fit." The top cards of his deck flew off, and after looking at them, adjusted them all. He then placed them back on the top of his deck.

"Well, that's all fine and dandy, but I believe Big Eye also had 1,000 Defense points."

Kaizer hissed from behind his mask as he glowed with a dark light.

**(Ario: 5,800) - - - - - - - (Kaizer: 3,800)**

"So I believe I'll end my turn. But please, try to entertain me, I truly do want to see how you can summon Gate Guardian at this point."

"We'll see indeed, because it's my turn!" Kaizer drew his card, and cackled. "Now for the real fun! I"ll play the effect of my second Gallis the Star Beast!" A devious grin crossed his lips as he took his top five cards, looked at them, and showed him the monster, Suijin. "My, I really am lucky, aren't I?"

Gallis appeared, and the stars showered on Ario, knocking him back again.

**(Ario: 4,400) - - - - - - - (Kaizer: 3,800)**

"And now I'll use the effect of the Creator, by discarding this card and I'm allowed to summon Suijin!"

A massive water spout erupted beside him, and the disembodied legs of Suijin appeared, grim faced and the kanji symbol for water glowed bright blue. (2,500/2,400)

"Now for a little revenge…" Kaizer pointed a finger at the monster. "Suijin, attack his Master Monk!"

The gaping maw of the monster shot a pillar of water at the monster. As expected, the facedown card flipped up to reveal Lone Wolf. Master Monk grunted and crossed his arms in front of his body, protecting himself from the blow but skidding back none the less.

**(Ario: 3,800) - - - - - - - (Kaizer: 3,800)**

"Your monster shall only make a small defense until I draw the required cards." He said. "So unless you do something very quickly, you're going to lose."

Ario drew his card and looked at it. With a chuckle, he turned Master Monk's card. "Well, sometimes it's easier to just take it slow. I switch Master Monk to defense mode and play the Spell card, Meditation." Master Monk sat down in the lotus position, and the Spell card appeared behind him. "Now for each turn Master Monk doesn't attack, I can pay 500 Life Points, and draw an additional card. So I'll end my turn now." He glowed a little, and drew a card.

Kaizer drew his card and grinned. "And now it's time! I'll discard this card in order to summon Sanga of the Thunder!"

Creator gestured, and a bolt of lightning struck down. The giant torso of the Gate Guardian, coupled with the symbol of thunder, appeared beside Suijin. (2,600/2,200)

"And then to finish the trinity, I'll play Call of the Haunted, which you so generously gave back to me to summon Kazejin!"

The trap card lifted up, and the large green and yellow middle portion of the Gate Guardian, combined with the Kanji symbol of Wind appeared. (2,400/2,200)

"And now for the beginning of your destruction! I combine my three monsters to summon one of the most feared monsters in Duel monsters history! Suijin, Kazejin, and Sanga of the Thunder, I sacrifice you to summon the almighty Gate Guardian!"

All three of the monsters suddenly floated into the air. Sanga first floated into the air, and Kazejin fit himself into the crevice under him. Suijin then floated under the two, and formed the legs. The new giant beast roared as it formed. (3,750/3,400)

"How does it feel to be staring down the face of one of the strongest monsters in the game?" Kaizer boasted, tilting his head back.

"Honestly? I've seen a LOT worse. I mean, you've summoned Gate Guardian when, in retrospect the separate pieces are a LOT more useful. So you kinda blundered there."

Kaizer paused in laughter, and realized that…well, he was right. The pieces of Gate Guardian WOULD be a lot more useful in this situation. He growled a little. "You think you're so smart." He growled, adjusting his mask. "I'll just end my turn then, but remember, the strongest monster on the field is mine!"

"True." Ario drew a card, and looked at his new card. A grin crossed his lips. "But your monsters aren't the target, I should warn you. First, I play the Field Spell card, Legendary Dojo!"

Not a lot changed regarding the area, but large banners that had the Kanji Symbols for bravery, honor, and sacrifice.

"Now that we're in my monk's own area, I'm allowed to play the Spell card, Training Dummies! This summons two Training Dummy tokens to your side of the field in attack position." Indeed, something flipped up on his opponents side of the field. Two training dummies, made of wood, flipped up, with immaturely drawn on angry faces. (1,000/200) X 2.

"Now, I'm going to explain some effects. First of all, with my Legendary Dojo in play, we MUST attack. We must select one monster on both of our sides of the field during our Battle Phase and attack with it. Also, since my Master Monk believes in the fact that it should be hand to hand, without the need of attachments. In other words, if we want to play Spells and Traps during the Battle Phase, we need to pay 1,000 life Points for each one!"

"What?!" Kaizer shouted. "Well…it doesn't matter! My monsters are still stronger!"

"True, but since you have two Training Dummy tokens on the field, you're forced to attack with them first."

Master Monk rose to his feet and cracked a knuckle. He rushed forward and threw a punch at the training dummy, blowing it to splinters.

Kaizer cried out as the effects of both the damage and the Legendary Black Belt worked their effects.

**(Ario: 3,300) - - - - - - - (Kaizer: 2,700)**

"And remember," Ario said. "You have to attack with your training dummies! So I'll end my turn! Come on; let's see what else you got."

"Let's see what I have indeed." Kaizer said as he drew his card and showed it to Ario. "I play the Spell card, Advance Draw. By sacrificing the Creator, I can draw two cards."

The Creator vanished into pixels, and Kaizer drew two cards. Looking them over, he chuckled. "I'll merely set this one card facedown and have my Training Dummy attack your Master Monk."

The Training Dummy didn't move, but rather Master Monk threw a simple punch in it's direction. The dummy shuddered, and exploded into pixels.

Kaizer groaned a little bit and rubbed his chest as the effects worked. "And now that all of my monsters are gone, you'll have no choice BUT to fight my Gate Guardian! And at the rate you're going, you're not going to last much longer, that's for sure…"

"True…" He drew his card and looked at it. "However, I will say this; your monster isn't going to last for much longer, especially with the card I just drew, a very powerful card called Kaminote Blow!" The Spell appeared behind Master Monk. "Now for this turn, no matter how strong YOUR monster is, he's going to be destroyed this turn! Attack, Master Monk!"

Master Monk rushed over to the giant statue and leaped into the air. He threw a single punch at the massive portion that Sanga the Thunder made. It didn't seem to do anything, and Sanga threw him off to the side with a simple swipe of his claw. As Master Monk hit the ground, cracks began to form all over the giant monster until finally, it gave one final earth shattering roar, and exploded into fragments of yellow, green and blue shards.

"And since my monster did destroy your monster in battle, the Legendary Black Belt works its magic. So it looks like…you lose."

"Or I would." Kaizer chuckled as he held up a card for him to see. "If I didn't have Hanewata. By discarding him, all effect damage I take this turn is reduced to zero. And not only that, but I'll play my facedown card Great Fall! When you destroy my Level ten or higher monster, I'm allowed to draw two cards."

He snatched two cards off of his deck and inspected them. A grin crossed his lips from behind his mask.

_Something's not right. _Ario thought to himself. _He's probably going to something even worse next turn. Best get the defense ready…_

"I'll place this one card facedown, and play the continuous Spell card, Rapid Kaminote Blow. Now, if I choose to not conduct my draw phase, I'm allowed to add Kaminote Blow from my graveyard to my hand. I end my turn on that note."

**(Ario: 1,350) - - - - - - - (Kaizer: 600)**

Kaizer calmly drew his card, and slipped it in. A spell card appeared, and a massive pillar of energy formed directly in front of him, a dark form seen in the darkness.

"I'll play the Spell card, Dark Element! Since Gate Guardian exists in my graveyard, by paying half of my Life Points, I'm allowed to summon the true star of my deck…the Dark Guardian!"

A new beast erupted from the pillar itself. A massive, nightmarish beast, one half of it was a warrior carring a massive battle axe. The lower half was that of a spider, only instead of fleshy legs, they seemed to be blades. It let out an unearthly screech and swung it's axe. (3,800/3,400)

"And now that they've served their purpose, I'll play the spell ard, Pot of Avarice." Five cards slipped out of his graveyard, Sanga, Gate Guardian, Suijin, Kazejin and the Creator and he shuffled them into his deck, followed by drawing two additional cards. He eyed them, and immediately slipped them into his disk. "I'll set these two cards facedown, and have my Dark Guardian attack your Master Monk! Now end this duel!"

The massive Dark Guardian hefted up his equally massive blade and swung it down on the seemingly defenseless Master Monk. Suddenly, a see through barrier appeared over the rock monster, which caught the axe with relative ease. Energy was trained from the axe in question, and coursed into Ario. Letting out a sigh of relief, he pointed to his newly flipped trap, Draining Shield.

**(Ario: 4,150) - - - - - - - (Kaizer: 300)**

Kaizer chuckled a little. "You realize that what you're doing is delaying the inevitable. I'll just end my turn and let you kill yourself on yours…"

Ario looked down at his deck and reached into his graveyard, holding up the Kaminote Blow spell. "I'll skip my draw phase to summon this."

"And I'll chain to that!" His two facedowns flipped up. "By playing Demonic Devastation, which doubles all the battle damage I would do to you, and Rush Recklessly, giving Dark Guardian an additional 700 Attack points." Dark Guardian howled as he rose to 4,500. "And you may be able to play Kaminote Blow, but I'll take you out well before the effect of Legendary Black Belt work! So what are you going to do now?"

"I'm going to play Kaminote Blow, of course." Ario laughed suddenly as the spell appeared again, and Master Monk began to glow.

"What?!" Kaizer shouted. "What are you doing? You're going to lose anyway, and you have no traps to protect yourself from the damage! How are you going to win!"

"Oh, you'll see!" Ario laughed a little as he pointed his finger at the giant, demonic spider beast. "Master Monk, attack his monster!"

Master Monk took a deep breath and rushed forward to the monster in question. Dark Guardian attempted to swing his blade down on his monster. Master Monk rushed up its arm after narrowly avoiding the blow, and dashed up the monsters arm.

"See, Kaizer, I wouldn't throw my monster into a fight I knew he couldn't win. Of course, a Master isn't anything without the people in his life. And I happen to have a monster in my deck that allows me to protect my monster."

Master Monk flew into the air and landed several dozen punches on the monsters helmet, managing to crack it. The Dark Guardian roared and took a step back, obviously in pain, trying to swat him away.

"This monster is called Spirit of Dunames, and when my Master Monk attacks, all battle damage this turn is reduced to 0 by sending to the graveyard from my deck. So…I'm afraid this is goodbye, my friend."

Master Monk, still working his magic, threw several more punches. He threw one final punch at the monsters skull, and cracks began to form over the monster. With a loud shriek, the monster exploded into pixels.

**(Ario: 4,150) - - - - - - - (Kaizer: 0)**

"Well!" Ario laughed as his cards vanished and walked over to his opponent, who was gasping and fell to his knees. "I gotta say, you gave me quite a run for my money! Now why don't you just get up and let's about this like reasonable people, maybe over a nice tea?"

Kaizer suddenly leapt up and held a dagger up to the elderly mans neck. "I…won't let my…mistress down! I will kill you before-"

He honestly didn't get farther than that sentence. Ario swung his arm and knocked the arm away from him, kicking him back, then reached out and grabbed the palm of Kaizer's hand with his thumb and index finger. Then he…lifted his pinkie?

Kaizer managed to see this, and he gasped. "The…the wushi finger hold!"

Ario had to laugh a little bit and grinned. "Oh you know of this hold? Then I'm sure you know what will happen when I flex my pinkie…"

"You're bluffing!" Kaizer gasped, his eyes wide from behind his mask, trying to struggle away. "Only masters of the martial arts know how to use that move! How can someone like you, a money grubbing shrew know how to do one of the deadliest attacks out there?"

Ario narrowed his eyes a little bit at the offender. "You've got a lot of nerve coming in here buddy. You've tried to kill me at least more than a few times, you duel me and waste my time, and you have the gall to insult me. I must say…"

He grinned a little bit.

"I'm going to enjoy this more than I should."

He flexed his pinkie, and Kaizer shrieked.

…

Meanwhile…

Two shadows were held in holding. However, these weren't just ANY shadows, but two shadows who were far more useful than either of them knew about…

Glacio proved himself to be extremely calm and polite while he was sitting there, his arms and legs in handcuffs, runes used to keep him from using his abilities to break them easily. He looked over at the other person with him, whom he attempted to strike conversation with. "So, I'm only to assume the Shadowchaser known as Damian managed to defeat you too?"

Cynder was far more restrained that the Paraelemental. He had a muzzle over his mouth, his arms and legs were almost shacked together, and he could almost barely move. He was snarling, trying to burn through it, despite the runes on said shackles were canceling his ability to use his powers completely.

"Yes, they were quite bothersome." Glacio said, as if he was completely unaware that his partner was incapable of talking. "But I must say, they were strong, despite that. What I wouldn't give to have a rematch against that homunculus…"

Cynder's eye twitched and he glared at the wall across from him. His eyes narrowed, as if he thought if he continued to stare, the wall itself would crumble under his rage. However…he did notice something. The wall was….turning dark brown. As if it were rotting.

Glacio took notice too. The wall continued to rot from the bottom up until it just…simple crumbled to dust, revealing a humanoid figure from the other side of it.

"Good to see I'm not getting rusty," Cackled the figure as he walked into the building. The man was very elderly, looked to be at least in his early nineties. His skin was a sickly grey and a little green in most places, his hair was white and flowed out from him, his eyes were hidden behind a pair of horn rimmed glasses. In his right hand clutched a cudgel, used to prop him up.

He walked into the room, the cudgel hitting the ground each time as he approached the two Shadows on the other side. Standing in front of them, he waited. "Well?" He asked. "Hold out your hands, you're coming with me."

Both of the shadows looked at the odd, elderly man, but the man merely snarled and grabbed at Cynder's muzzle. A moment later, he pulled it off, revealing that the locks had rusted nearly off. Now capable of talking, Cynder snarled.

"You old bastard, what the HELL makes you think I'd even CONSIDER going with you?!" He growled, eyes blazing even further.

The man stared at the Flaming shadow for a moment, and finally brought his cudgel down on his head. "Don't you take that tone of voice with me, you damned bastard!" he spat angrily. "You'll do as I say and you'll do it with a damn smile because if you don't…I have someone here whose more than happy and more than willing to MAKE you…as far as I'm concerned, you two are MINE now…"

Glacio tilted his head to the side. "Exactly why do you need us?" He asked calmly, watching as the elderly man grabbed at his handcuffs and made them rust, simply by touching them."

"And why exactly should we listen to YOU?" Cynder growled, narrowing his eyes further at the man.

"Heh." The elder chuckled. "Because if you won't listen to ME…" he gestured behind him, where a new figure had walked in calmly. "I can guarantee you'll listen to HIM."

Both Shadow's eyes widened as the new figure walked in. Wearing a clean cut suit, his long black hair slicked back, his handsome face pointed, his bright red eyes glowing almost, an arrogant smile on his face.

Vlad chuckled a little. "Because boys…the plan we have in store for you will be bigger than anything you can imagine…"

…

**Legendary Dojo  
Type**: Field Spell  
**Image**: Master Monk sitting at the end of a large dojo, with banners showing the Kanji sign of Bravery, Honor and Sacrifice behind him.  
**Effect**: This card can only be activated when you control a face up "Monk Fighter", "Master Monk", or "Chu-Ske, the Mouse Fighter" on your side of the field. During the beginning of the Battle Phase, both players select one monster they control. Only rhe monsters selected may attack this turn, and they must attack the monster the opponent selected. If a player activates a Spell, Trap, or Monster card they control on the field's effect, they must pay 1,000 Life Points to activate it.

**Meditation  
Type**: Continous Spell  
**Image**: Master Monk sitting in a calm, lotus position.  
**Effect**: If you control a "Monk Fighter", "Master Monk" or "Chu-Ske, the Monk Fighter" on your side of the field, and the selected monster didn't declare an attack, during the end phase of your turn, pay 500 Life points to draw one card.

**Karate Monk  
Type**: Rock/Earth/Effect  
**Attack/Defense**: 1,000/1,000  
**LV**: 4  
**Effect**: While this card is on the field, this card's name is treated as "Monk Fighter". Once, double the original ATK of this monster. If you do, destroy this card during the end phase of this turn.

**Rapid Kaminote Blow  
Type**: Spell/Continuous  
**Image**: Master Monk rapidly kicking and destroying the Millenium Shield, Neo Aqua Madoor, and Giant Soldier of Stone  
**Effect**: You may Skip your Draw Phase to add one "Kaminote Blow" from your graveyard to your hand.

**Spirit of Dunames  
Type**: Fairy/Light/Effect  
**Attack/Defense**: 0/0  
**LV**: 4  
**Effect**: Send this card from your deck to your graveyard when a "Master Monk" or "Chu-Ske, the Monk Fighter" you control declares an attack. Any battle damage you take this turn is reduce to 0.

_Note: Spirit of Dunames, Rapid Kaminote Blow and Legendary Dojo were created by Metal Overlord 2.0 and all creative credit goes to him._

**Dark Element  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: A being enshrouded in dark energy  
**Effect**: Activate this card when you control a "Gate Guardian" in your graveyard. Pay half your life points to summon "Dark Guardian" from your deck or hand.

**Dark Guardian  
Type**: Warrior/Dark/Effect  
**Attack/Defense**: 3,800/3,400  
**LV**: 12  
**Effect**: This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card can only be Special Summoned by the effect t of "Dark Element". This card cannot be destroyed as a result of battle.

_Note: Dark Element and Dark Guardian were used by the Paradox Brothers in the GX Episode,Tag Team Trial. All creative credit goes to the writers of that episode._

**Great Fall  
Type**: Trap  
**Image**: Magician's Valkyrie blasting energy at Gate Guardian  
**Effect**: Activate only when a Level 10 or higher monster you control is destroyed. Draw 2 cards.

_Note: Great Fall was created by Cybercommander and used with Permission. All creative credit goes to him._

…

And…well, that's that. Why does Vlad want Cynder and Glacio? We'll find out son enough. Next time, a small group of Shadowchasers try to go after the Sons of Tyranny themselves…and find themselves wa over their heads. "Lineage of Destruction" is coming soon, and it's gonna be a dark one.


	13. Lineage of Destruction

Disclaimer: I do not own the Yu-Gi-Oh Franchise, nor do I intend to make money from it. I do not own the Shadowchasers, that belongs to Cybercommander. Any characters you see belong to me.

Warning! This chapter will probably be a LITTLE dark…

Its hard to ever be ready for one of the universe's practical jokes. The following chapter had been in the works for quite some time, but only a few days before completion Cyber Commander's chapter 'Dragon Rage' came out sporting several of the cards and strategies used in this chapter. We do not blame CC for having a similar idea nor did we copy him, this is, as it would seem, just another one of life's bizarre coincidences. That said? Enjoy the chapter

…

"I'm to understand our guests are being treated?"

"Glacio is far more understanding of the current situation, and out fiery little companion is proving to be a bit of a nucense."

"Of course, understanding his personality, and his current situation, it's only to be expected."

"You realize that, despite having these two as early as we do, this plan has quite a ways to go."

"Even the biggest of plans take the smallest of steps, Lazarus. I figured someone of your intellect knew that first hand."

"Forgive me if I'm a bit paranoid, and wanting to get it done with as quickly as I can."

"Speaking of paranoid, where IS Minamochi?"

SMASH!

"Speak of the devil…"

Minamochi, the small Kappa hopped up onto his feet and slapped his hand to his forehead in a makeshift little salute. "Minamochi, reporting for duty, Master Vlad!"

"You know, I was kind of enjoying the fact this place had WINDOWS…" Lazarus, the elderly man that had joined Vlad on his journey mumbled, rubbing a hand through his white hair and looking up at the broken skylight in the ceiling. He sighed. "Is there anything in this world you can't break, Minamochi?"

The kappa looked down in disappointed. "Minamochi sorry, Uncle Lazzy…" He sniffled. "But Minamochi tend to smash things when he's happy!"

"Minamochi, you're ALWAYS smashing things…"

"Because Minamochi always happy!"

"Minamochi," Vlads deep voice rumbled, making the Kappa freeze up in horror and shiver, "There had better be a good reason why you're late…"

Minamochi gulped heavily and turned around. "Mina-Minamochi hadn't had anything to eat since dealing with Tin man so…wanted to get something to eat and maybe…play a little!"

"Minamochi," Vlad scolded. "Did you kill anyone?"

"No…" He whined. "Minamochi hate it when it light out, Minamochi too obvious in daylight. But did Minamochi do good, Master? Minamochi distracted Tin Man as good as Minamochi could! But Minamochi could have won…"

"Your goal was to not to win, Minamochi," Vlad snarled, red eyes blazing at the small Kappa, "Your goal was to distract them, which you did quite well, I must add! And with your help, and Ankoku's little lacky, we have one piece of our grand scheme right under our roof."

"Speaking of lackie's," Lazarus spoke up, looking over his shoulder, his neck making a loud snapping sound as if the bones were straining to move even a little. "Where has Roland gone? Isn't he suppose to be here while we were gone to, oh, I don't know, WATCH THE DAMN WAREHOUSE?!"

"On our way back, I sent him after the next piece on our list. It shouldn't be too long before he gets back, and frankly, I don't know where Ankoku is…"

"Minamochi bored now," Minamochi spoke up, currently balancing a dagger tip on the tip of his finger with relative ease. "Can Minamochi kill someone or something?"

"No, Minamochi," Vlad growled. "When the time comes, you'll have all the lives you can destroy, to your hearts content!" based on the Kappa's shriek of glee, he was obviously happy. Turning around, he looked to Lazarus. "Come with me, Lazarus, let's see how our guests are doing."

"Bah, if we must," Lazarus grumbled as he followed after the leader. Minamochi, curiosity abound, followed after the two of them.

…

Meanwhile, a trio of humans spied at the warehouse, one of the taller ones using the binoculars frowned. "Yep, this is where the Kappa lead us."

"You think the Sons of Tyranny are in this building?" The female team member asked, crossing her arms over her chest, "Seems kind of expected."

"We know he's in the Sons of Tyranny," The taller one mumbled, "He's wearing one of those leather jackets. He's got to be one of the Sons of Tyranny, the sooner we can get back to our original business at hand."

"I have a feeling something bad's gonna happen…" The girl mumbled, frowning.

"Psh, what's the worst that could happen?"

…

"You know, I would probably be a lot more cooperative if you didn't lock me up like this." Cynder snarled, his eyes blazing as he sat in the circle surrounding him, which was glowing with a dim evil light.

"Well, we wouldn't have to do this if you didn't threaten to turn me into charcoal," Lazarus growled, pulling his robe apart to reveal, indeed, a good portion of his chest was burnt rather severly. However, he didn't seem to mind. "Ergo, you're put in that, which, thanks to me, harms you each time you try to inflict harm to others around you."

"If you do not mind me asking," Glacio spoke up, "What exactly are we needed for? Surely, there are stronger beings out there than a Paramental, and…whatever Cynder is."

"Trust us when we say that you're far more important than you would think," Vlad smirks. "And when the time comes, both of you will get the revenge you seek."

"Minamochi, get away from him!" Lazarus scolded.

The Kappa in question was leaning into Cynders circle, a webbed finger pointing out and nearly touching the fiery skull of the captured man. "Minamochi not touching you…" he teased.

"I swear, if he doesn't get away from me, I will make him into frogs legs," Cynder warned, the fire in his eyes blazing hot.

"Minamochi not touching you…"

Cynder snarled and lifted up a hand. A fireball formed in his hand, and just as he was about to throw it-

The circle surrounding him suddenly pulsed with a red aura, and Cynder shrieked, falling back onto his backside and panting, smoke leaking from his mouth, panting. "Fine…fine you made your point…" Minamochi giggled and blew a raspberry at him.

"Lazarus, come here for a moment, I need to discuss something with you," Vlad said as he walked off to the side. The elderly man followed after the taller leader. "You're quite positive that THESE are the two that you required for the ritual itself? They seem-"

"Unexpected? Chaotic? That's exactly IT." He tapped him on the chest with his cudgel, grinning a devious grin. "These are the kind of chaotic power source this NEEDS. Ice and Fire, Rage and calm, can't you see? However…" He grumbled a little bit. "it would appear that…a few more issues HAVE arisen as a result. I've looked over a few issues. We have the power source, those two, but we'll need the ritual instructions themselves.

"But not only THAT, but we'll require a way to unleash the powers of such, which would take a certain card, which I could EASILY use to infuse the right energies. Not only that, but there's the…rage and unstoppable fury which will no doubt be an issue. But until then, we need to worry about THESE issues."

Vlad frowned heavily and gripped a fist. His cigarette, which dangled loosely out his mouth, burned halfway up the length of the cigarette. His eyes flashed bright red, and he let out a low, growling shudder. "Fine," He said, "Everything will still go without a hitch, we may just be delayed a day or two."

"May be longer than that," Lazarus grumbled a little bit.

"Master Vlad, Master Vlad!" Minamochi, who had left the room earlier after growing bored with tormenting Cynder rushed back in, his eyes wide in surprise. "Master Vlad, we have guests and Minamochi doesn't think they brought potato salad!"

"What?!" Lazarus shouted, spinning around, his entire body glowing with a dark aura. Gesturing, a portal appeared in front of him. His eyes narrowed when he saw three people in front of the warehouse. His fist gripped his cudgel so hard, a low snapping was heard from one of his fingers. "Dammit! I thought Ankoku's men were suppose to be on patrol for this exact reason!"

Vlad, however, merely looked over his shoulder and chuckled. "Ah…you need to relax, old man…this isn't anything to worry about."

"What?!" He shouted, spinning around. "Our entire plan is at risk, and you're saying this is nothing to worry about?!"

Vlad walked over to the side where his D-Wheel, Beowulf, was sitting. He opened up a compartment on the side. "See, this is nothing to worry about. Now, if there were at least…ten, or so, I'd be worried. However, it's three brats who likely are getting in over their head. And for that reason, I'm not concerned." He pulled out a deck.

Lazarus blinked in surprise. "You're attitude is contradicted, merely by the fact you're grabbing your REAL deck…"

Vlad chuckled. "Well, if I'm going to kill someone…" he laughed. "You may as well do it in style…but here's the plan, you two…and listen up…"

…

"I have to say, for a place housing the Sons of Tyranny, this is pretty quiet," The taller male said, pulling off his shades and looked at the large, seemingly empty building. "I would, at the very least, expect SOMETHING out of the ordinary."

"This merely means we have the element of surprise!" The second male quirked, grinning as he adjusted his ponytail behind his head. "We get in there, take them out, and get out quick. Trust me, easy."

"You thought it would be easy in that raid against the goblins too, and look how well THAT turned out." The female pointed out, looking at the younger male out of the corner of her eyes.

"Hey, if we do this, I think we'll be forgiven for that little…" he cleared his throat, "incident…"

The taller one merely grunted, and placed his shades back onto his nose. "Frankly, they had it coming. Now let's get this over with, I have better things to do than cleaning up after Damian's messes HE can't seem to."

He took a step forward, towards the warehouse and cried out as a shadowy figure leapt out and smashed into his face, breaking his shades and sending him flying back.

"Kirby!" Both the female and the male shouted in surprise.

Minamochi giggled a little bit and blew a raspberry, hopping backwards. "Stupid Shadowchasers! Come Catch Minamochi if they can!" And with that, he dashed away, turning the corner and disappearing.

The younger male snarled. "Lousy, little…I'll get him boss, don't worry!" He took after the Kappa, disappearing around the corner.

"Hang on Kirby, I'll help-" Before she could take another step, Lazarus appeared in front of her in a pillar of darkness, a smirk on his aged face.

"I don't think you're going anywhere, my dear." He chuckled.

"Get out of my way old man, before I MAKE you get out of my way!"

Lazarus merely stared at her for a moment, before he let out another loud cackle, lifted his cudgel into the air and waved it absently, as if he were doing it in a bored fashion. The ground suddenly rumbled and before the girl could blink on either side of him were animals.

Nothing that big of course, plenty of rats, a few snakes, and even a dog here and there. The most prominent feature was most of them seemed to have rotting in some parts, revealing some bones and muscle, and the occasional intestine hanging out, all of them glowing with a sickly, purple aura.

"You wouldn't happen to have a phobia for any of my little friends here would you?" Lazarus cackled weakly, coughing heavily. "After all, you'd be surprised what a Necromancer could do with little roadkill…"

"Josephine!" Kirby shouted as he jumped to his feet and rushed over to his partner, when suddenly all of the animals surrounding the two of them hissed and squeaked angrily.

"Make one more move, Shadowchaser, and your friend becomes dinner for my own friends…" Lazarus warned.

"Besides!" Laughed a deep voice from the entrance of the warehouse. "I believe the one you were looking for, my friend…was me!"

Kirby's attention immediately went o Vlad, who was standing there, arms crossed, the cigarette dangling from his mouth. A grin was plastered on his face.

"I was wondering when Jalal would find my hide out…" he chuckled a little bit. "Guess I have to give him credit for being so quick on the uptake…"

"Kirby!" The girl, known as Josephine shouted as she took a step back. "You go deal with him, I'll be fine against this bag of bones!"

"OH will you now?" Lazarus laughed. He lifted up his hand, and a dozen of the rats surrounding the two scampered up his robes and onto his right arm. Then, after loud cracking bones, the rats melded together into a duel disk, made of fur, muscle and bones.

Josephine gagged a little and grabbed her own Duel Disk, snapping it onto her own duel disk, and glared at him.

"Oh come now, my boy," Vlad said to the highly disturbed kriby. "If you really want a piece of me, then come with me. You know how rude it is to distract someone when they're dueling!"

Kirby glared at him, before looking as Josephine and Lazarus drew their cards. He followed the leader of the Sons of Tyranny into the Warehouse.

"Now then…" Lazarus chuckled a little bit, crossing his arms. "Let's begin…shall we?"

"Let's!"

"Let's duel!"

**(Josephine: 8,000) - - - - - - - (Lazarus: 8,000)**

…

Meanwhile, on the roof of the warehouse…

**(Anthony: 6,700) - - - - - - - (Minamochi: 5,500)**

"Minamochi will make girly boy suffer for doing that!" Minamochi shouted as the warrior, tall, icy and wearing white armor stepped away from him.

Anthony grinned a little bit and crossed his arms. "Heh, you'll never beat my Absolute Zero deck, frog boy! I haven't met anyone who has, and you're just another notch on my belt!"

"Minamochi will prove Girly Man wrong!" Minamochi shrieked. "Girly man end turn so Minamochi can destroy him!"

"Fine!" Anthony shouted, slipping a card into his disk, "I'll set one card facedown and end my turn!"

"Minamochi turn now!" Minamochi drew a card, and giggled as he laid his large eyes on it. "And now Minamochi will destroy giant eyesore! Minamochi summon Junk Synchron!"

In a burst of light, the small, yellow robot appeared, glaring at Anthony.

"Minamochi's little friend very useful! Minamochi can now summon weak monster from graveyard! And thanks to Girly man, Minamochi has a few!"

Junk Synchron grabbed his rip cord and pulled it hard…

"Oh no you don't, frog boy!" Anthony's facedown flipped up. "I play the trap card, White Out! Now with this card, effects of your cards that target a monster in your hand, your field or your graveyard are negated! That means you can't get a monster from your graveyard!"

Minamochi's eye bugged out even further. "Minamochi can't get little friends?!"

"That's right, frog boy! Now let's see you duel with your strategy completely destroyed!"

…

"Now then," Vlad grinned a little bit as he walked to one side of the warehouse, the massive doors slamming behind Kirby as he entered, "I believe you wished to duel me! Then let's get this over with…I happen to be very busy."

"Oh you'll be busy," Kirby growled as he grabbed a duel disk and slapped it onto his wrist. "Busy in the Shadowchaser prison when I'm done with you!"

Vlad smirked a little bit and calmly placed his own disk onto his wrist, clenched a fist and allowed both of the Duel Disks to increase to 8,000.

"Then by all means, let's duel. I have better things to do than to deal with Jalal's lackies."

**(Kirby: 8,000) - - - - - - - (Vlad: 8,000)**

"I'll make the first move, too!" Kirby shouted as he snatched the top card of his deck and looked at it. "And I'll start off with one of my favorites, by playing Reinforcement of the Army. Now I can-"

"Yes, I'm familiar with that card," Vlad gave a loud yawn, "You can add a lower level warrior from your deck to your hand. You don't need to bore me with unnecessary card effects that I happen to know by heart."

Kirby flushed and added the card from his deck to his hand. He immediately placed it onto his disk. "I summon the leader of the legendary group, Don Zaloog!"

A young, handsome man appeared, donning silver hair, and holding twin pistols. He spun them around his fingers expertly, and pointed them at Vlad. (1,400/1,500)

"Then I play the spell, Mustering of the Dark Scorpions, allowing me to summon as many other members of the group as I can, and I happen to have two right now! Gorg the Strong and Cliff the Trap Remover!"

On either side of Don appeared two more of the legendary group of Dark Scopions. One tall, muscular and holding a massive, spiky mace. The other shorter, wearing glasses, and holding a dagger. (1,800/1,500) (1,200/1,000)

"Hm, I find it a little ironic," Vlad mused, "That someone in your position uses a deck full of thieves. I believe the correct term would be irony, no?"

"I use my Dark Scorpions because it's ironic I use them to take down filthy, petty criminals like you," Kirby sneered. "Because I have a field full of monsters, and you have none. So I'll set one card facedown and end my turn!" A facedown appeared behind the three cards.

"Oh, is it my turn?" Vlad taunted as he calmly drew his card. Looking over his hand, he smirked. "Then let me show you how a REAL Duelist gets this stuff done…Cause I'm about to destroy every single one of your cards in one blast.

"I'll play the Field Spell Card, Dragon's Den!"

Slipping a card into his field zone, the area around them turned into a dingy, wet looking cavern, lit up only by torches peppering the walls. The most noticeable thing about the cavern was it was filled with gold and jewels.

"Now this is what I'm talking about," Vlad said with a small, lustful sigh. "And trust me, other than looking awesome, this place has an awesome effect. Seem it's like a Gear Town for my dragons. All of my Dragons require one less tribute to summon. For example, I'll summon Vice Dragon in Attack Mode."

A blue portal opening up in front of him, and a rather frightening monster flew out. It was purple, was sickly looking with thin, papery wings, and large, dripping teeth. (2,000/2,400)

"Of course, I just SPECIAL Summoned him, so his attack and defense are cut in half." The Dragon drooped over a little bit, and fell to 1,000/1,200, respectively.

"Why would you do that?" Kirby sneered, "Now your monster can't even beat Cliff!"

"Look kid, why don't you keep your mouth shut, and watch how the pros duel it, eh? I special Summoned him, doesn't mean he's sticking around! I'll sacrifice Vice Dragon for one of the biggest guys in my deck, Tyrant Dragon!"

Vice Dragon was atomized from the feet up, and in his place appeared the large, rust colored dragon. Its eyes were ember of fire, and it released a roar that shook the warehouse. (2,900/2,500)

Before Kirby could make a smart ass comeback, Vlad held up a hand. "Now I promised that I would destroy your monsters…so I think I will do that exactly. I'll play Reign of Fire." The spell appeared on his side of the field, and he began to glow with a Dark Aura. "Now when I control a Level 7 or higher Dragon, I pay 1,000 Life Points to attack all of your monsters at once. And what's better…well, you'll see!" he pointed a finger at the small army of monsters. "Tyrant Dragon, incinerate them all!"

Tyrant Dragon inhaled deeply and fire three consecutive fireballs at the monsters. Kirby watched in horror as the fireballs struck his monsters, not even giving them a chance to scream in agony. He screamed as the damage was done to him, and more fire spread to his body.

"Oh yeah, that little tid bit," Vlad said as if he just remembered what his card did. "For each monster my monster destroyed, you lose 100 Life Points for each level it had."

"That's…cheap," Kirby panted a little, grabbing his chest as if the blow had actually harmed him, and for all he knew, it did.

Vlad smirked. "Cheap though it may be…look at the score kid. You're in way over your head."

**(Kirby: 2,500) - - - - - - - - (Vlad: 7,000)**

"I may be losing by life points…" Kirby gasped a little bit, picking himself up. "But I can gurantee…I'll turn this around before you know!"

"Oh, I wait with eager anticipation," Vlad cackled. A card appeared behind Tyrant Dragon. "one facedown will end my turn. Now show me…impress me."

"Oh, I'll do more than impress you! I'll wipe the floor with you. Draw!" he drew his card, looked at his hand, and nodded. "I'll set one card facedown, and summon to the field Maenae the Thorn, in attack mode!"

A rather beautiful young woman appeared, wearing tight fitting clothing like the rest of her team, and holding up a large, dangerous looking whip. (1,000/1,800)

"Then my trap card activates. Gem Heist can cut the attack of one Dark Scorpion monster I control, and in exchange, let it attack you directly!" Meanae fell to 500 Attack points…

She snapped her whip at Vlad and constricted him around the chest. He gasped a little and grit his teeth, closing his eyes until finally, the tightness loosened.

**(Kirby: 2,500) - - - - - - - (Vlad: 6,500)**

"And since Meanae did damage to you, I can take one of her comrades from my graveyard and add it to my hand." He held up Cliff the trap remover and placed it into his hand. "Now, I'll set one card facedown, and end it at that."

"You fool," Vlad chuckled, drawing a card. "Now we come to the true ability of my field's ability. If one of use controls a Dragon on the field, you're allowed to draw an additional card. And since I control a dragon…" He drew again.

He frowned heavily. "You're lucky I didn't draw another dragon, otherwise this would put you in a world of hurt. Tyrant Dragon, attack his monster!"

Tyrant Dragon's mouth opened again, and a fireball formed in it…

"Oh no you don't, I'm playing my trap card, Zero Gravity! And guess what, your Tyrant Dragon is only immune to traps that target, and my trap effects the whole field!"

Suddenly, Meanae and Tyrant Dragon were lifted off of their feet, much to their surprise, apparently having lost control with gravity. As quickly as they began to float on the other hand, they fell back again. Meanae landed on her backside, and Tyrant Dragon landed on his massive stomach, both obviously in defense mode.

Vlad chuckled and shook his head. "You think you're so smart, hm?" He asked. "Well you've got a long way to go. I'll set one card facedown, and end my turn."

"Then I'll draw!" Kirby drew his card and looked at it. Grinning, he showed it. "I'll play the ever popular, Offerings to the Doomed to destroy your Tyrant Dragon!"

Tyrant Dragon suddenly roared, and exploded into numerous pixels. Vlad scowled.

"Then, I switch Meanae the Thorn into attack mode…" Meanae rose to her feet, cracking her whip again.

"And summon Cliff the Trap Remover in Attack mode." Beside her appeared the brown haired Dark Scorpion member, pushing his glasses further up his nose, and spinning his blades around his fingers.

"Okay you two, attack him directly, let's whale on him for a bit!"

Both monsters cried out and leapt forward, swinging their weapons at him. Meanae's whip snapped around Vlad, holding him in place while Cliff slashed his daggers at the man's face, cutting into his cheek and making his head jerk to the side.

**(Kirby: 2,500) - - - - - - - (Vlad: 4,300)**

"now for some effects!"Kirby taunted as both of his Dark Scorpions began to glow. "First of all, Cliff is going to make you discard the top two cards of your deck to the graveyard."

Vlad chuckled and grabbed the two cards of his deck, revealing them to be Burst Breath and Dragon's Gunfire, sending them to the graveyard.

"Then, with Meanae, I'll take a trap card from my deck to my hand." A card appeared in his hand, which was immediately placed facedown. "Then, I'll leave you to stew in your own filth." He grinned.

Vlad calmly drew his card and looked at it. He calmly slipped it into his disk, announcing, "I summon Des Volstgalph in Attack Mode."

A rust red dragon erupted from the ground in front of him, wearing rusty red armor, tattered angel wings, and large claws and teeth. (2,200/1,700)

"You really do need to remember. Somehow, there is going to be a draw that I can use to the best of my advantage," Vlad crossed his arms and smirked. "There is no room for error in my deck. See, my deck handles the hardest hitters, unlike that bastard Jalal's deck. MY Dragon deck is the best, and here's a good example of why! Des Volstgalph, attack Cliff the Trap Remover with Sandstorm Blast."

Des Volstgalph opened its maw and shot a stream of sand at Cliff. As it struck the theif, he screamed as his skin was ripped from his bones, and a few moments later on the onslaught, he exploded into pixels.

"Not only that, but when Des Volstgalph destroys your monster, you lose an additional 500 Life Points."

**(Kirby: 1,000) - - - - - - - (Vlad: 4,300)**

"That's all well and good…but I play my trap card, Dark Scorpion Replacement. Since you destroyed my Dark Scorpion monster, I'm allowed to add one Warrior from my deck." A card slipped from his deck, and he added it to his hand. He grinned at it.

"I'm not too concerned about your Dark Scorpions, you realize." Vlad taunted, shrugging his shoulders in a nonchalant way. "Especially since there aren't any that can defeat my dragon, let alone any other monsters in my deck."

"Heh, who says I grabbed a Dark Scorpion?" Kirby asked with a cocky grin, holding the single card up. "For all you know, this is the card that's going to change everything."

"Hm, I'll believe it when I see it," Vlad said. "Just don't forget, because you played that foolish Spell last turn, you must skip your draw phase."

"Yeah, yeah, don't remind me," Kirby said as he slapped his card down. "I summon Rose, Warrior of Revenge in Attack mode!"

Beside Meanae appeared another female warrior. This one with tight fitting armor, long red hair, and a katana in her hand. (1,600/1,000)

Vlad frowned and adjusted his cigarette, moving it from one side of his mouth to the other. "So…a tuner monster, hm?"

"That's right!"

Rose suddenly burst into four stars, and Meanae flew into the air after them. She burst into another four stars, and the eight stars began to form something in the air…

"Clustering Stars, form together to make a warrior amongst the fallen, rise from the ashes of the brethren, Colossal Fighter!"

A massive figure crashed into the ground in front of them, a massive creature rose from the dust. A massive, bulky figure, wearing futuristic armor. It flexed its muscles as it rose up. (2,800/1,000)

"Behold, one of my strongest monsters. And not only is he a powerhouse in his own right, he gains attack points for every Warrior in my graveyard. And thanks to you, I have five!" Colossal Fighter began to glow, and he rose to 3,300 attack points. "Now to show you what REAL power is! Colossal Fighter, attack Des Volstgalph, make him pay!"

Colossal Fighter rushed forward, his fist lifting up and he swung a blow at the Desert Dragon. It struck the monster, and the force of the blow threw Vlad back against some boxes that were in the warehouse. Debris and dust flew up as a result.

Kirby smirked and crossed his arms as his giant Synchro lumbered back to his field. "You criminals are all the same, you can talk the talk, and you THINK you can walk the walk, but when push comes to shove there's no outlaw alive that can take on a Shadowchaser!"

However, much to his surprise, Vladimir began to laugh. The tall man pushed himself up from the remains of the boxes and dusted himself off, that cocky little chuckle never ending despite having quite a few cuts oozing blood from his face. "You must be joking. You think you have me at your mercy, and that's the best speech you can come up with?"

"What are you laughing at? Did that blow knock a screw loose, or something?"

A moment later, Vlad stopped laughing, and he made eye contact with Kirby. This time, however, Kirby took a step back. There was something in his eyes that made Kirby feel scared…and weak.

"What are _you_ doing, is the question. You think you have this duel in the bag, just because you managed to make a small dent in my life points? The day is still bright…" he cracked his neck, making him hiss in pleasure. "and I'm starting to have fun."

Kirby growled, baring his teeth. "You just wait, buddy! When I'm done with you, and after my team mates finish off your little toadies, Jalal's gonna hunt down the other members of your team and shut you down!"

Vlad began to laugh again. A hard laugh, so that he had to tilt his head back and slap his hand over his eyes.

"STOP LAUGHING!" Kirby shouted finally.

"Oh kid…" Vlad laughed a little bit. "You think you know so much about us…but the real truth is…you don't know jack."

…

**(Anthony: 2,200) - - - - - - - - (Minamochi: 4,300)**

The field was a little bit more one sided. One Anthony's side of the field he had a Mother Grizzly and Elemental Hero Woodsman in defebse mode. One facedown was behind the two of them, and White Out was still prominent. (1,400/1,100) (1,000/2,000)

Minamochi had a slightly stronger field. Submarine Frog and Junk Archer in Attack mode, Graceful revival reviving Submarine Frog, and that was it.

"Minamochi activate Junk Archer effect! Minamochi remove from play bear thingy, make it easier to destroy!"

Junk Archer held up his Bow and arrow, cocking it back slowly…

"Oh no you don't, frog face! I play my facedown Shift, which, as the name suggests, Shifts the target of the effect. So I'll make you remove Woodsman instead!"

The arrow changed direction in mid air, striking Woodsman. He warped out of reality, disappearing a moment later.

"No matter! Minamochi still make you suffer! Minamochi make Submarine Frog attack bear!" The frog lifted up its harpoon launcher and shot the bear. It blew apart into little pixels. However, the Pixels reformed back into the Mother Grizzly, in attack mode. Minamochi scowed. "Minamochi will knock all of Girly Man's pieces down! Archer, attack!" The Archer cocked back another arrow, aimed, and shot an arrow through the bear. It let out a loud, echoing cry as it exploded again.

Anothy grnned as his monster exploded. "Heh, thanks Frog face, now I have everything I need to beat you!"

**(Anthony: 1,100) - - - - - - - - (Minamochi: 4,300)**

…

**(Josephine: 5,400) - - - - - - - (Lazarus: 4,250)**

"Face it, you rotting sack of meat, I've got you completely overwhelmed! I'm going to have fun completely destroying you!"

On her side of the field laid a Marshmallon, Keldo, and a Kelbek, all three in defense mode. A facedown was behind the three of them, and she held three cards in her hand.

Lazarus, on the other hand, was doing far better. He had the strongest monster on the field, Lich Lord, and asingle facedown card.. He hadn't been attacking.

"Really," Lazarus wheezed. "Have you SEEN the field? I hold the strongest monster. You haven't a chance."

"Yeah, but if you so much as even attack any of my monsters, you'll still pay! Kelbek will bounce it, Keldo will return a few cards to your deck, and I know you NEED those cards to even work anything, and Marshamallon can't be destroyed in battle! Face it, you're stuck between a rock and a hard place!"

"Hm." Lazarus drew a card and looked at it, slipping into the disk. A Spell card appeared, revealing the Gladiator Beast Andal falling into a large pit. "I'll play the Spell card, Booby Trapped Hallway. With this card, if you lose a monster to by the effect of a Trap card, you'll lose 300 Life points."

"What are you planning…" Josephine asked, cocking an eyebrow.

Lazarus waved his hand, and his facedown card began to lift. "This. I play Deck Devastation Virus."

Lich Lord began to convulse, his skin beginning to swell. Falling to his knees, his cape began to evaporate and blood leaked from his eye sockets. It looked up at Josephine, and the zombie _grinned_, before it shrieked and exploded into purple spores, which floated over to Josephines field. Her three monsters froze up, shivered and evaporated into puddles of slime.

Josephine gasped as her hand was flipped around too, to reveal the monster Agido, the Spell card Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen, and the trap, Call of the Haunted. Agido was sent to the grave.

"Let's see. That's four monsters, times three hundred…ah yes, 1,200 damage! And trust me human…it's only going to get worse."

**(Josephine: 4,200) - - - - - - - (Lazarus: 4,250)**

…

"Hm." Vlad laughed a little as he looked at his newly drawn card and tilted his head at it. "Very well then, it would seem as though I'm required to take a more cautious approach. I'll set one card in defense mode…" a defense card appeared before him. "And I'll end my turn."

Kirby smirked a little bit as he snatched his card off of his deck and looked at it. Scowling, he pointed to the defense monster. "Attack his defense monster, Colossal Fighter!"

Vladimir's facedown monster appeared as a small emerald green scaled dragon. As Colossal Fighter thrust down its fist the dragon roared in pain, spitting up a torrent of fire and smoke as it perished clouding Vlad's side of the field.

"Another one bites the dust," Kirby said smugly. "I don't know what you thought you could prove by copying our boss's taste in monsters but you're not even remotely close to his level of skill."

As the smoke slowly cleared all that could be seen of Vladimir was his mouth as he spoke. "Hmm, you know something kid? You're absolutely right; I'm NOT in Jalal's league,"

Suddenly his mouth twisted into a frightening sneer as two blood red eyes boring into Kirby's as Vladimir swept aside the smoke with his hand. "I'm BETTER then that brat could ever hope to be."

Before Kirby could retort he blinked in surprise, where the dragon Colossal Fighter had destroyed had fallen there was a new dragon, roughly spherical in shape with hide like cooled magma. "What the...where'd THAT come from??"

"THAT would be my Meteor Dragon and it was special summoned when you so kindly destroyed my facedown monster, Scout Dragon. You see, Scout Dragon works just like Pyramid Turtle does for Zombies. If its ever destroyed I can take any Dragon type monster with 2000 or less defense and summon it from my deck without paying a dime. This and Dragon's den gives me an edge your boss never learned to appreciate: speed. Still think your calling the shots kid?" He said with a smirk.

Kirby growled. He was having a hard time understanding why this guy was acting like he had already won, he was a SHADOWCHASER, and nobody could hold their own against them...could they? "Rrgh, s-so what? All you did was summon some out of date piece of trade bait, its got NOTHING on my Fighter. Now make your move." He snapped.

Vladimir chuckled as he drew a third card. "Oh don't get me wrong kid, I'm glad even cannon fodder like you and your friends have a decent card or two in your decks, but the harder you try and bring me down," He slapped down a Polymerization card as a strange thin looking dragon emerged onto the field and combined with Meteor Dragon. "The more reasons you give me to turn up the HEAT!!"

With an earthshaking rumble the ground in front of Vladimir cracked open vomiting ash and lava in every direction. Rising out of it was the biggest dragon yet; its body looked to have been carved from a volcano, magma dribbling from its jaws as it landed with a crash (3,500/2,000). "Say hello to an old classic, Meteor Black Dragon," Vladimir said trying to be heard as the dragon gave another roar.

Kirby was thunderstruck, but not just that Vladimir had one upped his strongest monster yet in a single turn. "H-hold on! That dragon you used, the only dragon that can be used with Meteor Dragon to summon that thing is the Red Eyes Black Dragon!"

Vladimir opened his mouth to speak but then gave an irritated look as Meteor Black Dragon chose to give another massive roar. "Excuse me for a second...SILENCE!!!" He roared his eyes burning red. To Kirby's shock the colossal dragon drew back from Vladimir something close to fear and awe in its eyes.

The biker thug pointed down at the ground his eyes still burning red. "Kneel." He growled simply. The great dragon bowed its head shaking the warehouse as it dropped to one knee in supplication, ready it seems to await its next order in obedient silence.

Vladimir's eyes returned to their normal state as he brushed some of his hair back. "As I was saying," He continued as though nothing had ever happened. "The monster I used was another custom critter called Camouflage Dragon and its effect is the same as any other Fusion Substitute like Versago the Destroyer or Goddess with the Third Eye. Now don't get me wrong I could have gotten one or even three copies of Red Eyes easily, but I felt it would hog the spotlight from my BEST card. But for now let's see how you do with this charming fellow, Meteor Black Dragon, KILL HIM!" He said snapping his fingers.

The pitch black dragon rose up and roared a challenge, pelting Colossal Fighter with an enormous firebomb that hit with the power of a natural disaster.

Kirby stood there the ashes of his monster flying around him not even seeming to notice his life points dropping slightly as he tried to fathom what Vladimir could mean as his best card. "Big...big deal! My Colossal Fighter's not out of this yet, when its destroyed in battle I can revive any Warrior type monster from my graveyard, including itself!" As he spoke Colossal Fighter rose back up.

**(Kirby: 800) - - - - - - - (Vlad: 4,300)**

"Well THATS a surprise, well go ahead and hide behind that big vanilla eyesore if you want kid, but all I have to do is set this facedown card and even that's not going to save you." Vlad said setting one card facedown ending his turn with two cards in his hand thanks to the ongoing presence of his Dragon's Den.

_A facedown card...the way he's been talking I'd bet my D-Wheel its Dragons Rage._

Kirby thought sweating as he drew his next card. But when he saw what he had drawn he seemed to regain some of his earlier confidence. "Oh you're in for it now punk, the only thing I'm going to do is set this card facedown and end my turn." He said a facedown card appearing behind Colossal Fighter which continued to stare down Meteor Black Dragon.

Vladimir arched an eyebrow as he drew twice. "Well now, somebody's got a little boost of courage, lemme guess, you just set some game breaking top deck like Mirror Force? Or maybe an attack booster like Rush Recklessly? Lets find out!" Vlad said with a sneer playing a card from his hand. "Stamping Destruction, an old card but a staple for any Dragon deck, say bye bye to your ace in the hole!"

Meteor Black Dragon flew up and then plummeted down sending a shockwave towards Kirby's facedown card...

"Time to put you in your place you big mouthed punk, I chain my face down, and it's a doozy! ASSAULT MODE ACTIVATE!!" He bellowed as his trap card emerged.

For the first time in the entire duel Vladimir's expression was one of complete surprise. "You chain activate WHAT?!?!" He shouted his blood red eyes wide.

"That's right! One of the rarest Traps in Duel Monsters, it was a little something Jalal gave me in return for how many of your buddies I personally took down, along with this next card that can only be special summoned by playing it and sacrificing Colossal Fighter!"

Rather then vanish however the trap card glowed and split into a suit of battle armor that began to fit over Colossal Fighter's form a jet pack roaring to life on its back as it glowed with incredible strength. (3,300/1,500)

"Meet the ultimate fighting machine...Colossal Fighter Assault Mode!!!!!" Kirby hollered as his newly augmented warrior struck a battle stance.

Vlad stood there in complete silence his expression still stunned from when Kirby had first announced his card's true identity. Despite its activation however Stamping Destruction's effect still applied, dealing Kirby 500 points of damage.

"Speechless eh? So was every other poor sap I've used this bad boy on, and his effect is even more impressive! First I can discard up to two Warrior cards from my deck to the graveyard," Kirby said discarding a second Don Zaloog and Dark Scorpion Burglars.

And now instead of GAINING attack points for every Warrior in my graveyard Colossal Fighter's new form DRAINS them from your monsters making your Dragon easy pickings." He said smugly.

Meteor Black Dragon gave a pained snarl as its attack score fell to 2700. Vladimir lowered his head bangs of his hair now covering his eyes. "..."

"Maybe NOW you realize what an idiot you were to think you could break into our headquarters. Colossal Fighter Assault Mode, slay his dragon!!"

The armored warrior flew at Vlad's dragon, who despite being weakened rose up to meet it head on the two combatants exchanging several heavy blows, Meteor Black Dragon raking its scales and fangs over its foe while Colossal Fighter slugged it repeatedly before grabbing it in a headlock and giving a brutal twist snapping its neck.

The dragon's lifeless body hit the ground with a crash fading away as Vlad's life points lowered.

**(Kirby: 300) - - - - - - - (Vlad: 3,700)**

"I think that's enough damage for now, had enough yet punk?" Kirby challenged as he ended his turn.

Vladimir didn't answer, he still stood there his eyes hidden as silent as the dead.

Kirby started to get impatient. "Hello, anybody home? Make your move!"

Then Vladimir started to laugh very softly. "Do you have any idea...how happy you've made me?" He asked his voice very low.

Kirby had to blink a little at that. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Vladimir looked up grinning at Kirby like a wolf that had just chanced upon an animal's helpless young. "I knew you grunts might be good for a few laughs, but I had no idea you'd prove THIS useful to me." He purred.

Kirby felt a bead of sweat fall from his face as Vlad's hungry look sent a chill down his spine. "What do you mean 'useful'?"

Vladimir simply cackled. "Oh you WISH I was that stupid, your boss won't know what's coming until its too late...but that's in the future. Right now you should be more concerned with what's going to happen to YOU."

Kirby's face purpled with rage at this. "'Playing'? You think this is a GAME?!"

Vladimir smirked. "No I KNOW this is a game, an entertaining one sure, but Duel Monsters is no substitute for the rush of true combat. But for common rank and file grunts like you? I'm willing to pull a few punches."

Kirby finally snapped at this. "YOU SHUT YOUR FILTHY TRAP YOU MISERABLE NO NAME THUG! I AM A SHADOWCHASER, A PROUD SERVANT OF JALAL THE DRAGONBORN, AND IT WILL BE A COLD DAY IN HELL BEFORE SOME UPPITY PUNK LIKE YOU WILL LOOK DOWN ON US!!" He roared as he drew a card.

"Lemme show you EXACTLY how insignificant you are, I play the spell card Grave Synchro! This card allows me to remove one Synchro type monster in my graveyard from play to special summon the monsters used to Synchro Summon it." He pocketed Colossal Fighter as Meanae the Thorn and Rose Fighter returned to his side of the field.

"Which means that with three less Warriors your Colossal Fighter Assault Mode's effect is 300 points weaker, you just going with blind rage at this point or are you going somewhere with this?" Vlad said.

"I said SHUT UP! I tune Rose Warrior of Revenge with Dark Scorpion Meanae the Thorn to summon someone who should be more then able to teach you some respect!" Rose closed her eyes and broke into four glowing stars that swirled around Meanae as her form changed to a far more radiant shape.

"I summon Jalal the Dragonborn!" Kirby said proudly as the armored warrior whose image was based on the leader of the Shadowchasers appeared drawing his sword as he stood alongside Colossal Fighter Assault Mode. (2,600/2,000)

Vladimir didn't seem to take all that kindly to this newest member of the field. His grin turned to an ugly scowl. "I knew it, you Shadowchasers can't go through a single duel without flaunting that elf eared eyesore of a Synchro. Still," He gave a leer. "At least I can kill his avatar as a warm up to the real thing."

"In your dreams scum! My field is stacked and your about to feel the full might of the Shadowchasers! Jalal, Colossal Fighter, TAKE HIM DOWN!" Both of Kirby's monster's charged at Vladimir ready to slash and punch away his life points.

Vladimir simply tapped a button on his duel disk and took a deep breath as a trap card Kirby had never seen before rose up. Then just as the two monsters were about to attack him he ROARED! It was louder and more bestial then anything Vladimir had summoned and it had such a ferocity and unbridled savagery that Colossal Fighter and Jalal, yes even the Dragonborn himself, drew back with fear!

_"To coin a phrase, it will be a cold day in hell before I fall to some lap dog like you Kirby," _

Vladimir rumbled his eyes glowing red as he spoke in the same deep snarling voice he had commanded Meteor Black Dragon in.

_"You were so busy flaunting that soft scaled pup's avatar you never thought of my face__down. A powerful trap called Kneel to the King. By removing one level eight or higher monster in my graveyard from play, no monsters you control __with a base attack score less tha__n the removed monster's can attack."_

Kirby trembled at the incredible hatred and pride in Vladimir's deep bestial tone. It was only the presence of Jalal on the field that was giving him the courage to keep dueling. "I...I end my turn." He said sweating heavily.

Vladimir's expression grew less fierce as he drew his next card, though when he saw what he had just drawn the laugh he gave was almost as frightening. "Well now, isn't this a treat? It looks like you've stayed alive just long enough to get to see my ultimate monster, it's not quite as...flashy, as your Assault Mode or that spoiled pup's namesake Synchro, but it gets the job done."

"If...if you think I'm scared of F.G.D forget it!" Kirby shot back. "No matter which one of my monster's you take out even that thing doesn't have enough attack points to wipe me out, I can still come back from this!"

Vladimir threw back his head and laughed like a madman. "F.G.D? Like I'd stoop to copying every OTHER wannabe Dragon duelist who can afford that five headed lizard. No, this beast happens to be rather close to me. So let's set things up for its arrival shall we?"

"First, since your field has at least one monster and I have none, I can special summon another Vice Dragon in attack mode." He said as another of the purple fanged dragons appeared in front of him , the score adjusting to half. (1,000/1,200)

"Then I summon Magna Drago." Joining it was a much smaller crimson scaled dragon with a triangular head and thin wings. (1,400/200)

"And now its time to herald the arrival of the TRUE lord of my deck! Magna Draco, Vice Dragon, pave the way for your lord and master!" Vladimir commanded. Magna Draco turned into two stars that began to spin around Vice Dragon as a torrent of flames whirled up around it. He began to chant once more in that deep bestial voice.

_"Shadow of destruction long past, rekindle the embers of war, and tear the earth and sky asunder! Destroy all that stands be__fore you, EXPLODER WING DRAGON__!!"_

The dragon that emerged from the pillar of flames didn't seem as intimidating as some of Vladimir's other dragons, it was half as small as Meteor Black Dragon, and its hunched over, emaciated figure paled in comparison to Tyrant Dragon's muscular frame. But in its blood red eyes burned a single minded craving for death and destruction that could never be extinguished even in death. Exploder-Wing dragon reared back its head its hunched over body making loud cracking noises from its thin joints as it shrieked like something from the deepest pits of hell. (2,400/2,000)

"Meet the last monster you'll ever see in this life Kirby," Vladimir purred his eyes reflecting the murderous stare of his monster. "Because tonight, this place becomes your funeral pyre..."

…

**(Anthony: 1,000) - - - - - - - (Minamochi: 2,500)**

"Minamochi…will not lose…to girly man!" The Kappa screamed, hopping up and down. "Minamochi has exactly what he needs to beat silly girly man!"

"We'll see about that!"

On both of their fields were their best monsters. Anthony had Elemental Hero Absolute Zero at 3,000, what with the addition of his other monster, Catapult Turtle, along with the still present White Out. All Minamochi had was a facedown card, and Junk Warrior at 3,200 Attack points.

"Now I'll use Catapult Turtles effect!" Anthony shouted as Absolute Zero leapt into the air, and landed on Catapult turtles back. "By sacrificing my monster, you lose half of my monsters current attack!"

Catapult turtle adjusted it's aim, pointing directly at Minamochi.

"Ready…aim…FIRE!" The turtle launched the Hero directly at Minamochi, completely bypassing his best monster and slamming into Minamochi. The small kappa shrieked and flew backwards, slamming into the floor of the roof.

"And what's even better, since Absolute Zero was removed from the field, his effect activates. It allows me to destroy all of your monsters!"

Frost began to creep up from the ground, encircling Junk Warrior, who began to freeze over…

It was then Minamochi grinned and hopped up onto his feet. "Minamochi activate spell card, Armed Regeneration!"

The facedown flipped face up.

"Now Minamochi is going to be able to play an Equip spell from graveyard and equip to monster! Minamochi choose Destruction Insurance!"

Anthony's eyes widened in surprise as the equip appeared behind the Junk Warrior. He finally exploded into parts, which pelted Anthony with pieces of Junk Warrior as he exploded.

"Minamochi win because pretty spell deals damage to girly man equal to half of how strong Junky man is! Minamochi win!"

**(Anthony: 0) - - - - - - - (Minamochi: 1,000)**

As Anthony began to back away, trying to keep from the attack slamming into him any further, he gasped as he saw he was close to the edge. Teetering over the edge, he looked over it with wide eyes. That would have been a long fall.

He turned around, and saw Minamochi now staring at him with wide eyes. Tilting his head to the side, he gave him an insane grin and said, "You go splat now." He pressed a webby hand to Anthony's chest, and gave him a hard push.

Anthony gasped as he tried to pinwheel himself back into his position, but no. he fell over the edge. Anthony closed his eyes, and braced himself.

Minamochi pouted as Anthony's body hit the ground below hard, and huffed. "Humph…girly man no go splat or scream…ah well, Minamochi kill someone! Minamochi happy again!"

…

**(Josephine: 3,000) - - - - - - - (Lazarus: 1,500)**

Josephine had everything under control now. On her field was Shinato, Kelbek and Zolga, along with Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen. The only thing Lazarus had was a single Spirit Reaper, and a facedown.

"That Spirit Reaper isn't going to be able to defend you for long!"

"Oh, I don't need him to defend me for much longer." Lazarus chuckled lightly as he drew a card and looked at it. "As it turns out, I'll defeat you right here and now. I'll sacrifice Spirit Reaper for a personal favorite, Disease Controller."

A new monster appeared where the Spirit Reaper just was. It was a tall man, wearing a plague mask anda long, black robe. It stared forward…

A few moments later, Josephine screamed as she was thrown backward the blast of the effect, landing on her back. Gasping, she looked up and noticed that Lazarus was approaching her slowly, a bored look in his eyes.

"Get away from me!" She cried, scooting back. She stopped when she felt something wrap around her wrists and her ankles. She looked up at him for a moment, eyes wide with fear.

Lazarus grinned a little as he gestured. Darkness began to shroud around the two. "Don't worry, my dear…it won't hurt…" From the Darkness came several snake like entities, with bright, red eyes and razor sharp teeth. "…much."

Josephine screamed as the snakes shot right for her…

…

**(Kirby: 300) - - - - - - - (Vlad: 3,700)**

"Well…" Kirby gulped as the massive new beast roared new and with such rage, it made the warehouse shudder. "I'm not worried, because…because with my Assault Mode Colossal Fighter, your monster still loses a lot of attack points!"

It was true. The mere presence of the Colossal Fighter caused the Exploder Wing Dragon droop over a little bit suddenly, falling to 1,700 Attack points.

"Heh…well that's true, I don't have the fire power to destroy either of your monsters…but I have other ways to skin a cat." He grinned. "Case in point, I play the Spell card, Necromancy."

The Spell appeared on the field, and three shadowy shapes appeared on either side of Colossal Fighter and Jalal. They were revealed to be Don Zaloog, Gorg the Strong, and Cliff the Trap Remover. (1,400/1,500) (1,800/1,500) (1,200/1,000)

With three more Warriors missing from the graveyard, Exploder Wing Dragon rose to 2,000 Attack Points. It roared a little bit louder as a result.

"And 'm not done…I could finish you off, but let's face it…I'm feeling dangerous…" A grin crossed his lips as he showed the spell card. "I'll play Card of Demise. With this, I'm allowed to draw a full hand of five cards, so long as I discard the whole hand in five turns. However…I'm not going to give you that chance!"

He drew his five cards, and smirked. He slipped on the new card, and a new spell appeared. It showed a dragonic being, quite possibly Red Dragon Archfiend, amongst burning rubble and destroyed buildings.

"My new Spell card, Raging Destruction, will completely d estroy you. See, now by discarding my whole hand, my monster can now attack that many monsters on your field. And I'll discard these four…"

He discarded his entire hand of four cards, and Kirby took a step back.

Vlad smirked a little and pointed a clawed finger forward. "Exploder Wing Dragon…" A small smirk grinned as his massive monster snarled. "End him."

Exploder Wing Dragon inhaled deeply and fired fireball after consecutive fireball, striking Cliff, Gorg and Don in that order. The massive explosion threw Kirby back, holding up his arms.

"And guess what?" Vlad smirked as the smoke blew away, "I have one more attack, and Necromancy weakens one monster on your side of the field by 600 Points for each card I destroy…"

Kirby looked up weakly, and laid his eyes on Jalal. Despite being weakened, he still stood tall, despite falling to 800 Attack points. The fireball was launched and struck Jalal. He was vaporized in the blast.

"But…why?" Kirby gasped. "You…all ready won…"

Vlad smirked. "I just don't like you."

The fireball struck Kirby, and he screamed as it exploded and threw him back…

**(Kirby: 0) - - - - - - - (Vlad: 3,700)**

Kirby gasped as he lifted himself up. "How…how could you...beat me?!" he shouted. He'd never lost a duel against a criminal, especially someone as dangerous as Vlad.

Vlad's toothy grin never left his face as he walked towards the currently downed Shadowchaser as the holograms began to vanish. "Your boss never did tell you what happens when you lot lose under the Fair fight clause, has he? Like pigs to a slaughter…"

"Wh-What are you talking about? Get away from me!" He tried to pick himself up to run away, but before he could get far, Vlad's hand enclosed around his shoulder, causing Kirby to hiss in pain.

"Well if you would stop _squirming, _I would tell you!" He spun Kirby around, and threw his knee up, colliding with the young man's chest. Kirby's eyes widened in pain, and he fell to his knees, holding his chest and coughing up blood. "You see, if a Shadowchaser loses a fair fight, you no longer have the authority in the conflict that the conflict took place over. Either you win, and enforce your laws on others, or lose, and are completely at the mercy of your enemy. It's just that simple."

"You…you bastard…" Kirby coughed up some blood. "When Jalal hears about this…you're DEAD!"

Vlad kneeled down in front of him, so he was a mere inch away from Kirby's face, relishing in the look of horror on his face. "And how exactly are you going to blow the whistle…when you're six feet under?"

He rose to his feet and took a few steps back. His eyes began to glow like when he commanded the Meteor Dragon, but the change didn't stop there. In the shadows behind him, his form changed shape, and he grew…and grew…and grew…until the head of the massive beast burst through the roof of the building, and looked down at Kirby.

"_Let me give you a bit of advice for your next life, human. The only thing that can defeat a true monster is neither a god, nor a dog…but a man. Say hello to your comrades in hell."_

Kirby only had time to scream in horror as the building flared out from within, the windows blowing out from a great roaring blast of flames.

"EEK!" Minamochi shrieked as he leapt off to the side, watching the building basically exploded in front of him and Lazarus. "Building go explode!"

"Indeed it did," Lazarus said as he watched the building explode. "And I must say, I don't think I've seen Vlad do that in a while. He must have been plenty steamed…no pun intended."

"Minamochi thought it was funny," Minamochi giggled as he hopped towards the building, carrying the limp body of Anthony over his shoulder. Lazarus followed suite.

The inside of the Warehouse was entirely ash, burnt, or currently on fire. The only evidence that showed there had been someone there was the scorch mark on the ground in the shape of a human, and a burnt, nearly destroyed duel disk beside it. Vlad was back in his human form, adjusting his clothing.

"Hm…it feels good to do that occasionally," Vlad laughed a little bit as he cracked his neck. "Lord knows it's such a joyous feeling to hear them _scream_…"

"As much as you enjoy your actions," Lazarus said as he approached the boss, "You seem to have destroyed yet ANOTHER hide out. Now we're going to need to find a new one."

"OH calm down old man," Vlad smirked as he walked over to the Duel Disk and scooped it up, despite the fact it was white hot to the touch. He didn't seem to mind. "It seems these puppets were more useful than we could have dreamed…

He pulled out a group of cards from the discard pile and began to sift through them. "Special coating, made especially to make sure that the card are totally safe, fireproof, waterproof, and pretty much unbendable. Quite interesting, actually, lord knows Jalal knows how to take care of his watch dogs."

"Is there any point to this?" Lazarus asked, sneering up at his boss. "I'd truly like to get out of here before the building comes down on us."

"Ah…here it is." He pulled out the card and smirked. "I'm to understand that you were missing a few components…I believe this one would be it."

He held up the trap card, Assault Mode Activate, to the Lich, and his eyes widened in surprise. A grin crossed his elderly face, and he snatched it up. "This is perfect!" He laughed. "We're that much closer, and this is one of the most essential cards we need! Speaking of essential…" He held up a hand at the door off to the side, and a dark blast of energy struck out, striking it and making ti collapse under itself. "YOU TWO! Get out of the room before you burn, NOW!"

"I'm a PYRO ELEMENTAL, old man! I live for this sort of thing!"

"I SAID GET OUT HERE NOW!!"

From the door appeared Glacio, who was calmly dragging Cynder behind him out of the door. Glacio said no words, but Cynder did growl and murmur under his voice as the ice Paramental dragged him out of the burning building.

"Yes, yes, now would be the time to get out, hm?" Vlad asked as he began to walk out. "I'm sure you two took care of your own problems?"

"The girl was quite a kick on her," Lazarus grumbled as he walked after him, looking over his shoulder. "Knocked off my foot. Going to take me ages to find another part to replace it…"

"Minamochi make girly man go splat," Minamochi said proudly, gesturing to the dead body he was carrying over his shoulder. "Very satisfying."

"Very good," Vlad smirked. "Now, first thing's first. Lazarus, once we contact Roland and Ankoku, have them do what they need to do. Roland disposes of the body, Ankoku leaves false clues to hide our tracks. Take what you need from the bodies, Lazarus, lord knows that decomposing body needs fresh meat. Minamochi…"

Minamochi hopped up and down happily, wondering what he could do.

"Hmm…" He grimaced as an idea came to mind. "Um…feed on the souls…"

Minamochi's eyes widened, and he gave a happy squeal. "Minamochi will not make boss displeased!"

Carrying Anthony and the torn up body of Josephine, he carried them off to the side.

Vlad and Lazarus cringed as they heard the very audible sucking sound, Vlad gagging a little bit. "I hate Kappa's…but I hate it most the way they eat the souls…"

Lazarus, a Lich, gagged as well. "It's not a pretty picture…that's for sure…"

Attempting to ignore the noise, Vlad pulled another card from the pile he grabbed from the Duel Disk. It was Jalal, the Dragonborn. Staring at it, he grinned. "You have no idea what's about to happen, Soft Scale…but trust me when I say…it's gonna rock the world…"

He began to chuckle as the building behind him continued to burn…

…

**Dragon's Den  
Type**: Field Spell  
**Image**: A large cavern filled to the brim with jewels and gold.  
**Effect**: Dragon monsters require one less tribute to summon. If a player controls a DRAGON-Type monster during your Standby Phase, draw one card.

**Reign of Fire**  
**Type**: Spell  
**Image**: Red Eyes Black Dragon soaring over a field, lightning it all on fire.  
**Effect**: Pay 1,000 Life Points, and Select one LV 7 or Higher DRAGON-Type monster you control. The selected monster may attack all monsters you opponent controls once. Deal damage to your opponent equal to the Level of the destroyed monsters X 100. Only the selected monster may attack.

**Gem Heist  
Type**: Trap  
**Image**: Don Zaloog being strung up by a struggling Chick the Yellow, the former is reaching into a glass case for a purple gem  
**Effect**: Select one face up "Dark Scorpion" monster you control. The selected monster has it's ATK cut in half, and it may attack your opponent directly.

**Dark Scorpion Replacement  
Type**: Trap  
**Image**: Chick the Yellow with swirls in his eyes as Don Zaloog races angrily after a Hitatsume Giant, who obviously knocked the former out.  
**Effect**: Activate only when a monster with "Dark Scorpion" in it's name or is named "Cliff the Trap Remover" or "Don Zaloog" is destroyed as a result of battle. The control of the card may add one LV 4 or lower Warrior monster from your deck to your hand.

**Scout Dragon  
Type**: Dragon/Wind/Effect  
**Attack/Defense**: 1,200/1,000  
**LV**: 4  
**Effect**: When this card is destroyed as a result of battle and sent to the graveyard, you may Special Summon 1 DRAGON-Type monster from your deck with 2000 DEF or less.

**Camouflage Dragon  
Type**: Dragon/Light/Effect  
**Attack/Defense**: 1,200/1,000  
**LV**: 3  
**Effect**: This card may be treated as a Fusion Material monster for a DRAGON-Type fusion monster. If this card is used in a Fusion summoning, the other monster(s) must be the correct ones.

**Kneel to the King  
Type**: Trap  
**Image**: Marauding Captain, battered, beaten and bloody, on his hands and knees before Demise, King of Armageddon.  
**Effect**: Remove from play one Level 8 or higher monster in your graveyard when your opponent attacks. Monsters with less Original ATK than the removed monster cannot declare an attack this turn.

**Necromancy  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: A figure in front of a graveyard, while several spirits rise from the graves.  
**Effect**: Special Summon up to four monsters from your opponents graveyard to their side of the field in defense position. When a monster summoned by this effect is destroyed and sent to the graveyard, one monster on your opponents side of the field loses 600 ATK.

_Note: Necromancy was first used by Yami Yugi in the anime Episode "Clash in the Coliseum Part 3". All creative credit goes to the writers of that episode._

**Card of Demise  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: An executioner placing a deck of cards under a guillotine.  
**Effect**: Draw cards until you have 5 cards in your hand. During the standby phase of how many cards you've drawn, discard your entire hand.

_Note: Card of Demise was first used by Kaiba in the anime episode "Clash in the Coliseum Part 4". All creative credit goes to the writers of that episode._

**Armed Regeneration  
Type**: Spell/Quick-Play  
**Image**: A glowing sword floating down into someone's hand.  
**Effect**: Select one equip spell card from either players graveyard. Equip it to one monster you control.

_Note: Armed Regeneration was first used by Yugi in the Manga. For the sake of the duel, I've adjusted it to a Quick-Play Spell._

**Grave Synchro  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: A gravestone showing Nitro Warrior, while Turret Warrior and Nitro Synchron dig themselves out from the ground.  
**Effect**: Remove from play one Synchro monster in your graveyard. Special Summon the monsters used to Synchro Summon that monster.

**Raging Destruction  
Type**: Spell/Equip  
**Image**: A dragon like monster standing amongst destroyed buildings and burning landscapes.  
**Effect**: Equip only to a LV 7 or Higher DRAGON-Type Synchro monster. Discard as many cards as you want from your hand. The equipped monster may attack as many monsters equal to the cards discarded by this effect.

**White out  
Type**: Trap/Continuous  
**Image**: A massive, snowy mountain  
**Effect**: Negate the effects of your opponents cards that target a monster(s) in their hand, field or graveyard.

_Note: White out was first used by Bolger in a future episode of Yugioh 5Ds. All creative credit goes to the writers of that episode._

**Booby Trapped Hallway  
Type**: Spell/Continuous  
**Image**: Gladiator Beast Andal falling down a seemingly endless pit.  
**Effect**: Each time a monster your opponent controls is destroyed by a trap card, they lose 300 Life points for each card destroyed.

**Disease Controller  
Type**: ?/?/?  
**Attack/Defense**: ?/?  
**LV**: 6  
**Effect**: ?

_Note: Kneel to the King, Reign of Fire, Dragon's Den, Camouflage and Scout Dragon were made by Metal Overlord 2.0. All creative credit goes to him._

…

Well…dark little thing, wasn't it? Next turn is a lot less worse, as we finally meet the previously mentioned Roland, who Angua takes on directly. Why is a member of the Sons of Tyranny robbing a bank? Find out next time in…nah, the title would give too much away. Stay tuned.


	14. Headless Knight

Disclaimer: I do not own the Yu-Gi-Oh Franchise, nor do I intend to make money from it. I do not own the Shadowchasers, that belongs to Cybercommander. Any characters you see belong to me.

I would like to take this time to dedicate this chapter to my aunt, Colette Scieska, whom has recently lost the battle to cancer. I love you Coco, and I miss you.

R.I.P. Coco.

…

It was not long after the night of the massacre at Vladimir's hideout that the Shadowchasers of the Los Angeles branch were summoned to a conference by Jalal. For Damian's sake it was currently being held in his hospital room after measures had been taken to hide their activities from prying eyes.

As well as Damian, Angua, Jerian, Scraps and Jessica were gathered. 14 had even shown up to everyone's surprise. What DIDN'T surprise anyone was how he was already trying to woo Jessica.

"I'm serious love," The Shadowchasers secret agent said holding her hand in his. "I've seen bleedin' angels less lovely then you. How about once this is over I buy you a drink somewhere, my treat?"

"Oh that's very sweet of you sir," Jessica said turning her face bright red as she put her hands to her face. "But I'm afraid I'm still a minor, so that would technically breaking be the law." She said not noticing how 14 seemed to turn to stone at this.

"Is that part of how humans court?" Scraps asked Damian as they watched the two.

"No, that's part of getting shot point blank off the saddle." Damian said grinning.

They were interrupted as Jalal appeared in the center of the room via hologram. Jalal had always been a Shadow of steadfast composure and stoic nature, but when he and Damian saw each other there was an awkward silence between them.

"...Damian."

"...Jalal."

The two remained silent a moment longer before their brief discussion seemed to end with a curt yet slight nod from each other before he turned now addressing the entire room.

"I called you hear as I've been alerting every branch of the Shadowchasers in the U.S that the bodies of three of our agents have just been recovered and all evidence points to it being no accident." He said gravely.

"I wanted to alert all Shadowchasers working in Los Angeles that around midnight last night it seems two of my best men were murdered in pursuit of a Kappa believed to match the description of the one Scraps encountered."

Angua swore under her breath. "Please tell me the bodies weren't located within the city limits," She said knowing how much paperwork it was going to take to keep this kind of situation under Shadowchaser control. If the mundane obtained any sort of evidence that suggested something beyond a normal homicide there would be complications to say the least.

Jalal shook his head. "Actually we have yet to recover the remains. In fact the troubling thing is that we have yet to come across ANY leads on who was responsible for this or where they might be now."

"But that shouldn't be possible, the Shadowchasers have failsafe on top of failsafe when it comes to tracking down wanted criminals, and how someone get the drop on three full fledged Shadowchasers anyway?" Jerian asked his brow furrowed in concern.

"That's IT? You had reason to believe someone leaving a crime scene had direct connections to a gang of cold blooded outlaws and you only sent THREE people after them??" Damian demanded sitting up too quickly and wincing slightly.

"Damian those 'three people' had years of experience against the Sons of Tyranny and were given every available means of dealing with whatever resistance the ones responsible for the jail break were likely to have." Jalal said his eyes narrowing.

"Which amounted to what? Side decks with multiple copies of System Down and Kinetic Soldier?" Damian roared. "Jalal, Vladimir's not some two bit crook like Louise Da Pen who fumbles around some loophole in the Treaty to deal with people in his way, he's a KILLER. He'd sooner slit someone's throat from ear to ear then bother to duel them!"

"Are you suggesting he simply killed them and somehow managed to avoid alerting us to the violations of the Fair Fight Clause of the Treaty?" Jerian asked.

"That's not possible," Jalal interrupted. "All Shadowchasers are protected by countless measures that were taken specifically to PREVENT that from happening. The chances of a motorcycle gang, even one given supernatural weapons, being able to get around them is, to be frank, ludicrous."

"But what if, what if they died because they lost within the parameters of the Fair Fight Clause?" Jessica said speaking for the first time since Jalal had appeared. "Has that happened before Jalal?" Angua stood up from where she was sitting. "Well?"

Jalal met her gaze for a moment before briefly looking away not saying a word.

"Jalal," Angua said starting to sound angry. "As an officer and acting Liaison between of the Los Angeles Police Force and the Shadowchasers I am asking a question in regards to a matter that puts everyone in this city potentially at risk. Has. This. Happened. Before?"

"Of course it has," Everyone turned to Damian who was sitting up looking down a bitter edge to his voice. "But he doesn't want to admit it because it reminds him of how many Shadowchasers DONT show up to save the day. For every success story like Ember Michiko there's a hundred more stories of people who weren't so lucky. Serving as a Shadowchaser has no less risk then being a police officer or a soldier. The only difference is there's a lot more horrible ways to die in this job." Damian said giving Jalal an intense stare. "So how many more people like these three have to die before were ready to stop treating these guys like amateurs Jalal?"

Jalal had his head bowed Damian's accusation seeming to have struck a nerve. Suddenly he seemed so much older than his youthful appearance let on, as if moments like this made the burden of what he had sacrificed to create the Shadowchasers was weighing all the more heavily with the deaths of three more members.

"Then what do you suggest Damian?" Jalal said very quietly.

Damian settled back a little the fight seeming to leave him. "Well for starters we need to address something that's been a pain in our collective asses ever since the raid on Giovanni's counterfeiting operation. Whatever Vladimir is up to, if it IS Vladimir," Damian allowed more for Jalal's sake then his own. "He's been getting a steady supply of counterfeit copies of cards worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. From what Jerian's digging provided at least one member of Vladimir's branch of the Sons of Tyranny might have the right connections to get them supplies like that. But that still doesn't explain where these cards are coming from now that Giovanni's dead."

"When I interrogated Glitch, he mentioned that Giovanni was acting as a liaison between Vladimir and another Shadow, someone much higher up in the business world then a washed up arms dealer. I'd be lying if I said the two didn't seem like they were connected." Jerian added.

"If that's the case, whoever this third party is might have been the original suppliers of the counterfeit cards, from the information Angua provided me from her investigations none of the equipment Giovanni had been there for more than two, maybe three months at most." Jalal said his hand on his chin as he mulled this over.

"We don't have a lot of time if that's the case," Damian spoke up, sitting up with some difficulty, eyes wincing as his chest throbbed. "We're all going to need to do something. Me and my guys will be here and keep an eye out for the Sons of Tyranny."

Jalal nodded a little bit. "I'll send some men over to the Los Angeles area, they should be able to help you with your search, and ultimate capturing with these guys."

Damian frowned and laid back. "Knowing these guys, we're going to need all the help we can get…"

"What do you want me to do, Sir?" 14 asked, standing up straight in front of his boss.

Jalal looked over to 14, and brought a hand to his chin. Stroking slowly, he thought. "While I would suggest staying in Los Angeles to help the current Sons of Tyranny situation, 14, I'm afraid your attendance is going to be required elsewhere."

14 blinked in surprise and cleared his throat. "With all due respect sir, what could possibly require my attendance, what with everything going on here?"

"Like we've mentioned with the third party and the counterfeit cards. What we're going to need you to do is go find out as much information as you can from Giovanni's records, all of his business transactions before the night of the attack. We need as much information as we can find."

14 nodded, but there was a hint of disappointment in his eyes. One of the best agents in the force, reduced to research.

"Damian," Jalal said turning to the Shadowchaser. "I wish you only the best of luck. Until next time." He nodded his head, and the hologram vanished.

"Is it just me," Jessica whispered to Jerian. "Or did something happen between Damian and Jalal?"

Jerian frowned. "It's...complicated." Was all he could say.

There was a brief silence as the six occupants of the room merely stood around, looking at the place where Jalal just stood not a moment later. Finally, Damian, with a low groan, spoke up.

"Well, we all heard the man." He said as he groaned. "We're all going to have to carry our own weight even further. No more slouching around."

"But Damian," Jerian spoke up, not looking at his bed ridden partner. "You're still incapacitated. Until you're free from bed rest, we'll take care of this."

Damian frowned a little and fell back against his pillow. "I can't be here for much longer. I'm not THAT hurt…"

"Master Damian, the last I had checked, broken ribs are more than hurt." Scraps spoke up.

"You're not helping, Scraps," he grumbled.

"Look, case in point, we'll throw our own weight around here, and make sure this Vlad guy doesn't do…whatever it is he's trying to do," Angua said, sitting beside Damian the entire time, her hands clenched together as she replayed the scene that unfolded before her in her head. "Whatever that may be."

"Knowing Vlad, it's gonna be big. I've never known someone like him to go for something lesser than potentially kidnapping the president."

"What about me?" Jess spoke up. "I took care of that Ruin Roach easy, if there's any way I can help, I want to."

"Look, kid," Angua spoke up, looking over at the younger girl, "You got lucky in that duel. If he found out you weren't a Shadowchaser, he would have used that card and killed you AND Damian. We can't rely on blind luck from this moment on."

"But…"

"All officers, please respond."

Angua jumped a little bit as the walkie-talkie on her hip suddenly crackled to life. Grabbing it, she held it up.

"Dangerous situation at Bank of the West on 333 West Alamelda Street, armed robbery in progress. One officer has been shot, repeat, has been shot. All available officers please respond."

Angua gave her radio a strange look. "Anybody else get the feeling this is a little too soon after we find out three Shadowchasers are dead to be a coincidence?"

"Whether or not this is tied to what's been going on if the LAPD are having this much trouble with one bank robbery maybe you should take some backup, Scraps think you can bring Angua back in one piece?" Damian asked turning his head to the homunculus.

Scraps nodded. "I see no reason not to, along with ensuring the safety of a valuable member of the local police force I'm sure you will be able to focus more easily on recovering knowing Sergeant Angua is safe given your personal feelings for-"

"A SIMPLE YES WILL DO SCRAPS!" Damian shouted going a bit red in the face. Scraps hurried out of the room Angua following, but not before she gave Damian a crooked grin.

Damian groaned and flopped back down onto his hospital bed before noticing the others were all giving him looks. "Isn't there anything USEFUL you people could be doing?" He growled. "I think I should go patrol the other side of town while Angua and Scraps take care of this area."

"I can go and look over my father's books for any more clues as to what the Sons are after."

"And I'll...*sigh* go grab a drink before I look over those bloody financial records." Said a rather disappointed 14.

When they all left Damian lay quietly in bed staring up at the cieling, inevitably his thoughts returned to his last encounter with Vladimir.

"One thing's for sure, he doesnt seem to have changed much either in skill or his attitude against the authorities." He muttered thinking back to a duel he had once witnessed between Vladimir and an officer using a Special Pursuit deck after an arson raid on a town.

At first Vladimir seemed to be in a tight spot, the officer had gotten out Gate Blocker 2 and Goyo Guardian early and had been stealing Vladimir's dragons before he could use them for tributes, synchros OR fusions. To make things worse this guy had put a personal twist on the deck and had added Cannon Soldier MK 2, giving him the means to not only free up his field for more summons but also do serious burn damage.

Then Vladimir pulled the entire duel around in a single move...

…

_"Surrender now criminal!" Barked the officer who was pursuing Vladimir down a stretch of highway with Damian trying to keep up. "You've no hope of winning, prepare to pay for everything you've done."_

_Vladimir just cackled as he drew his next card. "Trust me, its going to take more then some mall cop reject to take me down. Time to put you in your place!" He said his eyes glowing red briefly. _

_"First up I play my facedown card, Three Pair," A peculiar trap card appeared showing three red King of Hearts playing cards, only the kings were Ojama Yellows. "Now I can take any three monsters with the same name and add them to my hand. The catch? I cant use any of them for the next three turns." He yanked three cards from his deck and showed them to the officer._

_"Serpent Knight Dragon?? Who in their right mind uses even ONE of those things anymore, let alone three?" The officer laughed. _

_Vladimir gave him a sinister grin. "Every card has power, you've just got to know how to tap into it, case in point, I discard my three dragons," He sent all three cards to the graveyard and slapped another monster onto his disk. "To special summon THIS!"_

_With a roar a huge three headed dragon with slate gray skin appeared flying above both duelists. "I'm sure your familiar with the former ace card of Tetsuo Ushio, Montage Dragon?"_

_The three headed dragon howled as its power shot up to 6200 attack points!_

_"I-I chain its summoning to my facedown, Desert Sunlight, now all my monsters move to defense!" The officer said as Goyo Guardian, Cannon Soldier MK 2 crouched in defense (Gate Blocker 2 was already in defense mode to it didn't move)_

_"Oh please, like THAT'S going to save you. Well as strong as Montage Dragon is he's not going to be the one to send you packing, but in order to break out the REAL showstopper, I chain its summoning with a facedown of my own, the quick play spell card, Adamantium Sword Revival!" Vladimir shouted as a normal quick play spell card rose up._

_"Stupid punk, why on earth would you put a non speed spell card in a turbo duel deck? Now you take 2000 points of damage as a penalty!" The officer said as the field around them began to pulse before a beam of energy shot at Vladimir..._

_...Before suddenly stopping in mid direction and striking the officer instead, making him scream in pain as his life points dropped to 2400. "Wh-wha..."_

_"I KNOW how to use my own cards dumbass, but that doesnt mean I cant use the rules of a turbo duel to my advantage, case in point I used Barrel Behind the Door to reflect the damage I would have taken to you instead, now I offer my Montage Dragon to summon an even GREATER beast!"_

_Montage Dragon roared before it was suddenly encased in a giant emerald gemstone, its shape began to swell and morph before the gem shattered revealing a dragon even larger then Montage, coated in massive diamonds including a crest of them that surrounded its head. "Meet one of the rarest dragons , albeit most unsubtly named, in the game, Diamond Head Dragon! (???,0)"_

_"Why isn't its attack score determined?" The officer demanded._

_"Because Diamond Head Dragon's attack score is the same as the original score of the dragon I tribute to summon it with Adamantium Sword Revival, plus one thousand!" Vladimir said proudly as the beast's attack score shot to an even higher 7200 attack. "Oh, and one last thing? Diamond Head's a trampler." Vladimir said a crazed grin on his face. _

_"What?! Wait, STOP!" The officer said panicking as he tried to disengage the Turbo Duel, at this speed an attack like that could be disastrous._

_"When you wind up in hell, tell them Vladimir Bloodletter sent you." Vladimir said before jerking his thumb down. Diamond Head Dragon roared and showered the officer's field with shards of diamond that perforated Goyo Guardian and tore into the officer's engine sending him spiraling out of control. _

_The officer struggled to maintain control over his vehicle, much to Vladimir's annoyance. "Stubborn little, ah well, lets see you survive THIS!" He suddenly put Beowulf in reverse and spun facing the officer before punching a button on his dashboard. Beowulf's headlight eyes glowed even brighter as its mouth opened, revealing he had installed a Gatling gun which he trained on the swerving officer with uncanny precision. _

_"Vladimir STOP! You've won the duel, lets beat it now before more of them show up!" Damian shouted pulling up besides Vladimir. _

_Vladimir simply gave Damian a sneer. "Here's hoping," He said before he opened fire, the officer barely had time to scream before the barrage of bullets tore through his windshield and tore mercilessly into his chest and head before one of the bullets hit the fuel tank the D-Runner going up in a fireball._

_Vladimir pulled to a stop watching the conflagration almost with pride, the flames reflecting in his eyes. "Take a good long look at it Damian," He said rummaging for a cigarette. "This is what happens to anybody who gets in my way, even you might share that poor bastard's fate one day, but hey look on the bright side: you'll already be cremated." He said before breaking into roaring laughter._

…

Damian shuddered at the memory, and it hadn't been the last time Vladimir had made it crystal clear he wouldn't tolerate anyone trying to get in the way of his goals. Damian wasn't surprised that Vladimir had come back to finish what he had started all those years ago, but what he hadn't counted on was that he seemed to have gotten even stronger.

He lay there quietly for a little longer before reaching for his cell phone and punching in a number nobody else knew he had, one that couldn't be traced under any circumstances. "Glitch? Yeah it's me Damian...no Glitch nobody's gonna be listening in I'm using the private number you gave me, listen I've got a job for you..."

…

"Come on Scraps!" Angua shouted over her shoulder, wiping the sweat from her shoulder, "We don't have time for you to be slow!"

"Forgive me, Miss Angua," Scraps said, not a break in his voice as he jogged up beside her, "But I'm afraid my speed cannot hope to match that of a lycanthrope, so you must forgive me for being slow."

She rolled her eyes a little bit as they both turned the corner. The Lycanthropes eyes widened in surprise at what she saw. Sure enough, there was the bank, but there were far more police than they expected there to be. A dozen cars had all been parked out the front, several police officers were pressed against their cards. The cars had bullet holes all over them, more than they SHOULD have had from a simple hold up at a bank. Angua rushed over to the cluster of cards and ducked down, sure to hear the gunfire any second now. Scraps, however, had merely begun to walk toward the cluster, oblivious to the danger a normal person would be in.

Angua crawled behind the safe zone, and approached a rather portly looking man, holding up a pistol and leaning over the edge of the edge of his car, as if anticipating an opportunity to get a shot in.

"Henson!" She whispered, catching the portly man's attention as she crawled over to him, sitting down beside him, "What's going on? I thought this was just a hold up, not Cutlers last stand!"

"That's what we thought too," He whispered, "but it's a dangerous situation in there! Not only is this guy packed, but we haven't been able to get a single shot in! See all those holes in the cars? He's kept us pinned down for a while! He hasn't even stopped to reload his weapon!"

"Then why don't you get the SWAT team in, they're PAID to handle this kind of thing!" Angua argued. "Or rush at them, at least try to get in there and do some damage?"

"Are you kidding?" he asked, "You may not have noticed, but we're not exactly equip to handle machine gun bullets screaming at us, and we've TRIED contacting the SWAT team, but we can't get into contact with them! We've been trying to reach them for the good part of this whole thing, nothing!"

Angua frowned a little bit and looked over the entire situation. Her eyes then landed on Scraps, wearing his fedora, gardening gloves and jacket who stood there as if confused about the whole situation. Several of Angua's fellow police officers stared at him in confusion.

"I may have an idea…" Angua said slowly, an idea forming in her head, "And just bear with me, because it'll be very risky…"

…

In the bank, the situation was a little bit less and a lot more worse than the police could have given it credit for. There was only one person in the bank who had started this whole thing who was currently in the back of the safe, growling as he slammed his rather large fist on the wall. "Dammit!" He shouted angrily, "What kinda bank in this, where do they keep the big stuff!"

It was weird for a few reasons, seeing as the crook was surrounded by stacks of dollar bills, which would have been substancial enough for a crook any other day. Another odd thing about the thief was the way he was dressed. His entire outfit seemed similar to that of a 1950's Chicago gangster, black and pressed to fit him near perfectly, a white tie that seemed a little bit on the blood side and a corsage in the pocket. In his right hand there was an old fashioned tommy gun, in his other hand a rather large burlap sack. He was also wearing a black leather jacket.

The oddest thing about him was the fact that he had no head.

"Lousy, no good…" The headless crook said as he turned his attention to the entrance of the safe where he could see the line of hostages he had there. About a dozen of them, which were all tied up together, in each of their hands was a grenade, the pins pulled and their hands squeezing them in a death grip, tied to a certain point where they wouldn't be able to throw it.

"What kind of bank doesn't have…" The mere fact that the headless man was talking, let alone walking and not crumpling to the floor was astounding, let alone frightening. As he approached the entrance to the safe, his attention was turned to another portion of the safe he was preparing to leave. Rolls upon rolls of coins.

An echoing, booming laugh escaped from between his shoulders where his head normally would have been. "Now THAT'S what I'm talking about!" Rushing over to the large cache of rolled up coins, he placed his gun down for a second, and began to pile the lode into his bag, wasting no time as it was finally filled to the brim. "There!" He exclaimed proudly as he hefted the tommy gun and the bag with ease over his shoulder.

Making his way toward the entrance, motioned to the hostages. "I really gotta say everyone, you've been just lovely and compliant with this whole thing. Maybe I WON'T kill you all just for the shits and giggles, but then again…" he hefted up his Tommy gun, making the rest of the hostages gasp and recoil, "The only poor bastard that I had the fun of killin' was that security guard….so…" he pointed the weapon at the line of hostages, all of whom closed their eyes tightly…

Something else caught the headless man's attention though. His body turned, looking to the outside where he could clearly see a tall, imposing man, heavily dressed in a fedora, gloves and a heavily trench coat. "What the…"

The figure then began to race forward toward the entrance of the bank, and the crook jumped back, holding up his gun. "Whoa, whoa, whoa there buddy! You come any closer, and I'll-"

CRASH!

The heavy figure crashed through the glass doors of the bank and landed with a heavy thud, creating a smell dent in the lenolium floor. The crook backed away further and unleashed several bullets on the heavily clothed figure. All it did however was cause loud echoing pings as the bullets did nothing to him, though it did begin to shread his trench coat, revealing the large imposing form of Scraps. Instead, as if nothing had happened, Scraps rushed forward, his eyes burning bright red and threw a punch at the headless man's chest.

The headless man let out a loud grunt and fell back, dropping his tommy gun and the bag of coins on the floor. Scraps, however, wasn't going to give him another chance to catch his breath. Punch after punch after punch was thrown, knocking the headless robber back almost completely.

"Okay!" The man shouted in anger, rubbing his chest. "You wanna play it like that, big boy?! Then let's wrestle!"

He lifted his hand and he caught both punches thrown by the Junk Homunculus. The two were standing there, the Headless crook holding the assault off, and Scraps attempting to push him back.

"I…must say…" Scraps said as he was pushed back a little, "you're…strong than I gave you…credit for…"

A low, deep chuckle escaped from the thief as he continued to hold his own, "I was wondering when you Shadowchasers were gonna show up…" He flexed his muscles, and the insignia on the back of his leather jacket began to glow, "now I can really try out these powers!"

With a loud shout, he twisted around and threw the heavy homunculus over his shoulder and into the safe he just exited as if he were a bag of apples. Scraps' eyes widened quite a bit as he threw into the safe and hit the wall with a hard thud. Pushing himself off the wall, he hit the ground with a grunt. "Oh…" He moaned a little, "I did not expect that at all…"

Turning around, he saw the headless crook approaching him, fists clenched tight, and the insignia on the back of his jacket glowing bright red. "You know, I'm kinda disappointed," he approached the Junk Homunculus and cracked his knuckles. "I kinda expected the Los Angeles Shadow Chasers to be a little bit more…creative." He pulled his fist back…

"Well…" Scraps said, "truth is…we CAN be." The front panel on his chest popped open, and a hand holding a desert eagle reached out from it. The headless being paused in mid swing as the hand shot six bullets into his chest. Each shot sent him reeling back before finally, he fell just outside of the safe, not moving, the front of his suit nearly shred apart.

The owner of the hand let out a slow sigh, and Angua crawled out of the empty compartment of Scraps' chest, her hair strewn and a total mess, and she looked very banged up. "Okay…ow…" She said, holding her head, "Not one of my better ideas…"

"Despite your numerous injuries, Miss Angua," Scraps said as he closed the panel on his chest, "you cannot argue with results. The perp is down, and now is the time to lock him up before he's allowed to do more damage."

Angua nodded a little and grabbed the handcuffs hanging by her hip, kneeled down beside the headless crook…

However, she didn't expect for the fist of the supposedly knocked out crook to hit her square in the jaw and send her flying. As she hit the ground, the headless man reached over and grabbed his Tommy gun.

"You…little bitch…" He said with a grunt, "That was my…favorite suit!" He pointed his gun at her.

"Miss Angua!" Scraps cried as he rushed forward. He saw this, and pointed his gun at the hostages instead.

"Stop right there, ya little bastard!" He shouted, "One wrong move and they ALL die! See those grenades? I got it set up just right that if ANY of them release the kill switches, they're ALL Bloody chunks on the wall." He growled. "So I suggest you BACK UP!"

"Do what he says, Scraps," Angua spoke up, narrowing her slowly growing yellow eyes at the headless man. The Junk Homunculus backed away further into the safe, as both Angua and the Headless man rose back to their feet.

"Yeah…now why don't you STAY there!" And just like that, he grabbed the door and slammed it shut, quickly turning the dial and turning his attention back to the surprised lycanthrope. "Now then…where were we?"

"You bastard…" She hissed. "You're going to pay!"

"And how exactly are you gonna do that?" he asked, gesturing to the bullet wounds in his chest, "Isn't it obvious that killing me isn't going to be an option? Try to over power me? I took out your little robot, taking out YOU isn't going to be that much a problem. Try to out time me?" He patted his gun affectionately and chuckled, the deep laugh echoing through the room, "See this gun? No one's going to outrun my little girl here."

Angua grit her teeth, revealing her slowly growing canines and her slowly growing eyes. "Well I'd love to see you try to hurt me…"

"Hmmm…" He murmured a little bit as he stroked his gun affectionately, "That's a good point…I can tell from here you're a damn lycanthrope…"

Then he began to laugh, his tommy gun was still pointing at the hostages.

"Well don't we have ourselves a little standoff? Oh yeah, I don't have any silver bullets, so I can't exactly do a lot of damage to you…" he gestured to his gun carrying hand, "Of course, if you try to attack me as well, I may get a little shaken up, and shoot! Like I said you bitch, one wrong move, and they ALL die and I know a little goodie goodie pig cop like yourself would never want THAT to happen, now would we."

The two remained silent for several moments as the situation ran well in Angua's head, playing out every possibility of the current situation, maybe she could distract him and get a squad in here…maybe-

That was when he made her jump when…he yawned, thought she could only ASSUME she yawned, there was no visible evidence. He just…made the noise.

"But I gotta say," He said, "I don't really feel like standing here all day having a staring contest here with you, especially since it wouldn't do anything to change the situation. But I know you Shadowchasers are pretty partial to bets and making sure no one's hurt in the process…" He said, "So how about a duel, hm?"

Angua blinked a little bit in surprise. "You're kidding me," Angua said after a moment of stunned silence, "you're honestly suggesting a duel in this current situation?"

"Why not?" The Headless man queried, "You can't hurt me, I can't hurt you, I can't go anywhere without getting caught with the police, making my whole time here entirely pointless, and you can't do anything without me turning the hostages into chili. So here's the plan." He lowered his weapon, but kept his finger on the trigger. "You and I are going to duel, and it's going to go like this. If you win, I go ahead and surrender myself and everything here goes about their happy ways. If I win, I can carry on about my ways with my treasure."

He chuckled a little bit. "Besides, it would be more entertaining than just standing here and hoping about what would come next. So what do you say, lady? A good old friendly duel, and no one gets hurt."

Angua narrowed her eyes at him for a moment. _I suppose that's better than the alternative,_ She thought. _I can hopefully stall him for a little while…_

"Fine," She said, "You got yourself a duel!"

"Excellent! And for simplicities sake…" Much to Angua's surprise, he slapped the tommy gun onto his wrist, where it began to mold and unfold right there. Angua watched as the powerful gun transformed into a dull chrome duel disk. On one end was the mouth of the gun, and on the bottom of the disk, where his hand was, was the trigger. He gripped it almost immediately, "Call me Roland, I insist. By the way, this gun is still usable in this form, so I'd be careful if I were you…"

"Oh, how gentlemanly," Angua said with a sarcastic tone as she pulled out the portal duel disk she always had on her, placing it on her wrist and letting it snap into place. "Then let's duel!"

**(Angua: 8000) - - - - - - - (Roland: 8000)**

"Just to show that even people of MY history can be chivalrous," Roland said, waving a hand at her, "I'll even allow you to go first!"

Angua snatched the top card off her deck and added it to her hand, her eyes slowly trailing over the current hand she had to deal with. _I can make a good combo if I do this right…let's hope._

Taking a card from her hand, she placed it on her disk, stating, "I summon Naturia Antjaw in attack mode."

A glowing portal of light erupted from in front of her, and from it appeared the small ant like being, holding the large sunflower seed. It flapped its leaf like wings to keep itself airborne, obviously having difficulties holding the seed. (400/200)

"A bug," Roland chuckled a little bit, "Honestly, you Shadowchasers have the strangest taste in monsters…at least throw something at me that's the least bit intimidating."

"There's something to be said about power in the weak," Angua said, taking another card and slipping the slot behind Antjaw. A facedown card appeared behind the insect. "That said, I'll set this one card facedown, and end my turn."

"Good, now let me show you how a real move is made," Roland snatched a card from his deck and added it to the rest. His hand trailed over the six cards in his hand, and he grabbed one, "And how about one that'll get you dancing? I summon Twin Gun Fighter in attack mode!"

A figure materialized into existence in front of Roland. It was a tall man, with long, wild hair that reached his lower back. His attire consisted of a black vest and cowboy had that hid his right eye. The most prominent feature about him, however, was the twin pistols he spun around in both hands. He pointed them both at Angua and the Antjaw, clicking the hammers back. (1600/1000)

Angua took a card from her hand immediately and placed it on her disk. As the card began to form, she shouted, "Since you summon a monster from your hand, I'm allowed to Special Summon Naturia Cosmos Beet!"

A small plant appeared on the ground in front of her, and the ground erupted as the small vegetable with the large, wide eyes appeared, narrowing his eyes as it posed as dramatically as it could. (1000/200)

"Then I activate Naturia Antjaws Special effect, which Special Summons a Naturia Monster from my deck when I Special Summon a monster from my hand!" A card shot out from her deck, and she paced it on the disk. Beside the Beet and the Ant appeared a larger than normal mosquito, but with wingls, a body and a stinger like that of a flower. It buzzed weakly as it landed on the ground, narrowing it's eye at Roland. (200/300)

"I'm supposed to be impressed by this?" Roland laughed, "Summon an army of these things, I'll take them all down, and here's just how I'll do it! Twin Gun Fighter, attack her vegetable!"

The Twin Gun Fighter lifted the gun in his right hand and began to spin it around his index finger, the weapon making a whistling sound. All sets of eyes were on that gun when Twin Gun Fighter flicked it up into the air, watching it travel upwards.

What they should have watched was the gun in his other hand, which he unceremoniously pointed at the Cosmos Beet and pulled the trigger. Cosmos Beet's eyes widened in surprise as the bullet pierced it's body and he exploded into pixels.

"You're going to regret that!" Angua exclaimed, "Because since I have Naturia Mosquito on the field, any damage I would take from battle with one of my Naturia's is directed at YOU instead!"

Roland clenched a fist as a red aura began to surround his body, which he shook off.

"Heh, tell me, how can he handle effect damage?" Roland asked, letting the gun from the air land back in the Twin Gun Fighters hand. Spinning it one final time, the monster pointed at Angua and pulled the trigger. Angua screamed as the attack struck her in the arm, knocking her back. "See, I thought so. Now you'll take damage equal to my monsters attack. Serves you right, you bitch."

**(Angua: 6400) - - - - - - - (Roland: 7400)**

As he waited for the scores to adjust themselves, he took two additional cards from his hand and placed them down. The two facedown cards appeared behind Twin Gun Fighter. Waving his hand, he ended his turn.

Angua drew her card and looked at it. She then pointed to Naturia Antjaw, who began to dissolve from the feet up, "I sacrifice Naturia Antjaw to summon Naturia Bamboochute!" Naturia Antjaw finally vanished and in its place appeared two bamboo seeds, with bright purple eyes and stumpy limbs. (2000/2000)

_Heh, I was prepared exactly for this._ Roland thought _Soon as she tries to attack me, I've got my trap right here that'll show her exactly what she's dealing with…_

"Bamboochute, attack Twin Gun Fighter!" Naturia Bamboochute's eyes began to glow brightly, and Roland attempted to play his trap card…but it wouldn't flip up. The two seedlings gestured to the ground, which began to rumble and crack.

Suddenly, several long chutes of bamboo erupted from the ground and pierced Twin Gun Fighter through the his entire body. His body remained there for a few moments before he finally fell back to the ground with a heavy thud. The remains of the body exploded into pixels.

**(Angua: 6400) - - - - - - - - (Roland: 7000)**

"I'm supposed to be impressed just because you destroyed one of my monsters? Give it time, I'll give you something to be REALLY impressed about."

"Maybe you're also wondering why your trap didn't work, and don't try to deny it, I saw you reaching for it!" Angua laughed, "but since I sacrificed a Naturia monster for Bamboochute, you can't activate your spells or traps!"

Roland didn't respond to that and merely drew another card from his deck, adding it to his hand.

_I will give him this…_Angua said in her head, _He's got one hell of a poker face…if he had one anyway…_

"See copper, you're not the only one around here who's capable of swarming the field." He said, "Case in point, I summon Bandit of the Burning Plains."

A kneeling figure appeared in front of him, wearing what appeared to be a leather vest and scarf over his mouth, hiding half of his face. In one hand was a large pistol, while in the other was an impressive sized rifle. (1200/1000)

"While Bandit of the Burning Plains might not be the best in line of attack, he's got quite the potent effect, allowing me to mill my own deck to summon Fire Warriors from my deck. And Bandit of the Burning Plains happens to be a Fire Warrior."

He discarded a card from the top of his deck, revealing it to be Molten Destruction, , the first bandit lifted his gun and shot it into the air. A second Bandit appeared beside the other, his rifle sitting in his lap. (1200/1000)

"And what's even better is Bandit can do it even when he's Special Summoned, so I can get two more turns!"

The second Bandit shot his bullet into the air, and after discarding his next card a third Bandit appeared beside the others. Then after discarding another card, a new monster appeared beside this one, an female wearing red armor, with a large sword by her hip. She kneeled down beside the other three bandits, while they all gave catcalls. Command Knight scowled and ignored them the best that she could. (1200/1900)

"Seeing as she's a staple for nearly ALL warrior decks, I'm sure you know what her effect is," Roland chuckled. Command Knight lifted her sword up high and all four monsters began to glow. Their attacks all rose to 1600.

"There needs to be SOME kind of catch for being able up to four monsters…" Angua gulped as his field turned from zero to four in a single move.

"Well of course there is," Roland said as he gestured to his army of monsters, "Any of the monsters that I summon from the deck can't be used for a Tribute Summon or in a Synchro Summon, and be lucky that they can't attack this turn. So I'll end my turn!"

"Like you COULD attack," Angua snapped as she drew her card and added it to her hand, "Since my monsters are all still stronger than yours! Case in point, Bamboochute, attack the Bandit of the Burning Plains that's in attack mode!"

Once more, the two seeds of bamboo gestured and the large rods of bamboo shot up from the ground, piercing the body of the bandit. He was suspended in the air for a few moments, before he and the bamboo chutes exploded.

"And for fun, I'll have Naturia Mosquito attack one of the other Bandits!" The Mosquito leapt into the air and flew forward toward one of the other bandits. With an annoyed expression, though it was hard to tell, what with his face partially hidden, the man backhanded the insect away, but the red aura surrounded Roland regardless.

**(Angua: 6400) - - - - - - - - (Roland: 5800)**

"You know…" Roland said through, if he had the capability to, grit teeth, but it did sound like his voice was straining, "I'm not normally an angry guy…but what you're doing right now is slowly bringing me flashbacks of my good old days…"

"I can only assume you're going to tell me about all of those days," Angua said, slightly under her breath.

Roland began to laugh, much to Angua's surprise, as he held up his hand, "Who says I have to tell you jack shit?" he snapped at her, "The last time I had to open my mouth was when I was in the dentist's chair, and now that I don't even HAVE the damn thing I hardly feel justified to give you anything that can be used in court, so piss off and finish yoru turn!"

Angua was surprised at the out burst and looked at her hand. She gave him a wave, scowling. _Weird…_ she thought. _They always spill their history when we're dueling them…_

He snatched his card off his deck and immediately placed it on his deck, "And what better way to kick this off than with Pierce Musketeer."

Another Old western monster appeared beside the other three monsters on Roland's side, this one even more appropriately dressed than the Twin Gun Fighter. Her attire was a Victorian style dress, a sun hat which was worn over low cut blonde hair, but the most striking thing about her was the impressively sized musket in her hand, slung over her shoulder. A look of determination was on her face while the two Bandits once more wolf whistled. (1700/1000) --- (2100/1000)

_Okay…change of plans here…_ Angua said, her eyes widening a little as the stronger monster prepared her gun and pointed it at her.

"Since that thing's proven to be VERY annoying, how about we deal with that first, hm?" Roland asked calmly as he pointed at the Bamboochute, "Sure I'll take some damage, but at least I'll get one step closer to getting my revenge on all you pigs! Lock and load!"

At that command, Both of the bandits and the Command Knight immediately rose to their feet. Their guns were loaded, and Command Knight lifted her sword up.

Pierce Musketeer aimed with one eye with her gun, and pulled the trigger. The shots rang through and slammed into the Bamboochute, completely obliterating it from existence. Though it's twin remained, it shattered into a hundred pixels, and Roland ignored the red aura that surrounded him.

One of the remaining bandits lifted up his gun and took aim. He shot a single shot that struck the Naturia Mosquito head on, between the eyes. It remained on the field for a moment before it finally exploded into pixels.

Angua watched as her monsters were brutally mowed down in front of her that she almost didn't see what happened next. She was thrown back first by a swipe to the chest from the sword Command Knight used, and she felt a sudden pain her left shoulder from the bullet the Bandit had fired at her. She held her shoulder out of instinct.

_Even after all those years on the force, you still get the feeling every bullet feels real…_

**(Angua: 3200) - - - - - - - (Roland: 4300)**

"Ya know, perhaps this wasn't the best time to duel me, hm?" Roland asked as he slipped one of his hands into his suit pocket, "Especially with what happened with your friend, Damian. I can't say the same won't happen to one of you as well…"

_He knows about what happened to Damian?_ She asked herself when she drew her card and looked at it. Looking at her hand, she began to form a plan…

She asked herself when she drew her card and looked at it. Looking at her hand, she began to form a plan, but at the same time kept an ear out for anything else he may say that was of any importance…

Her concentration was broken a moment later by the loud whirling of a trap door opening beside roland, it's crosshairs focusing on Angua's chest.

"Ready…." A loud whirling sound… "Aim…" A loud click…

"FIRE!"

Angua screamed as she flew backward, several dozen shots ringing out and striking her in the chest. She gripped her chest once more out of instinct, her eyes wide and her face pale.

"Isn't Secret Barrel such a useful little trap?" Roland laughed a little bit as he gestured to the activated trap in question, "Been aching to play this for a while…"

"I'm…" Angua groaned a little bit as she picked herself up. She didn't rise to her feet yet, so she remained in a sitting position, "almost glad you did…since you activated a trap, I can discard the top card of my deck…and summon Naturia Rock."

After discarding the top card of her deck, the ground erupted in front of her to reveal the large rock with googly eyes floating there in mid air. It blinked once, and hit the ground with a dull thud. (1200/1200)

"Then I'll play the Naturia's homeland, Naturia Forest!" She shouted as she slipped a card into her field spell slot.

The bank around the two of them began to grow rich, green foliage as the card took effect. The two of them were suddenly surrounded by a very vibrant forest, teeming with life and plants.

"While it may not have any effect on my monsters attack totals, it's not without it's uses, but when the time is right, we'll cross that bridge. In the mean time, I summon the tuner monster, Naturia Rosewhip!"

One of the roses that were off to the side suddenly rose up, turning to face Roland. A pair of eyes opened, and a small, pencil thing smile etched its way on it's face. Two long tentacles rose up from the ground around the flower. (400/1700)

"Synchro Summon!" She shouted as Naturia Rosewhip suddenly burst into three glowing green rings. Naturia Rock flew into the air between the green rings. "Guardians of the Forest, rise to keep the peace of nature pure! Guardian of Strength, Forest and Woodland, summon to the field…Naturia Balkion!"

Six glowing stars floated into the air, which began to form into a large serpentine shape before the large, bark covered Chinese dragon appeared in the air, wisdom bright in its eyes. (2500/1800)

"Well…" Roland said with what Angua could identify was a bit of surprise, "Just because you summoned a big monster doesn't mean you have any sort of advantage! Bring it on bitch!"

"Well, you heard him, Balkion," Angua said with a smirk that showed her feral side slowly beginning to emerge, "Attack Pierce Musketeer with Breath of Nature!"

Naturia Balkion began to inhale deeply, a bright light beginning to form in the deep pits of his mouth. It's eyes began to blaze with light as he tilted his head back…

"Trap, activate!" Roland shouted as his facedown flipped up, and a gun appeared in his hand, "By using Grazing Bullet, I can-" He then screamed as the gun in his hand exploded, causing him to back away.

Balkion threw his head forward as a beam of energy, as bright as the sun itself, exploded from his mouth and struck Pierce Musketeer. All they could all hear was the loud shriek she gave before she evaporated into dust.

**(Angua: 2200) - - - - - - - (Roland: 3900)**

"What the hell did you do, you bitch?!" Roland shouted, "How did you negate my trap!? You should have lost because of it!"

"Balkion isn't just a beatstick, you know," Angua said as she held up Naturia Bamboochute and Naturia Antjaw, "By removing two cards from my graveyard, I can negate any trap card of yours, so sorry to ruin your little plan. Before we got anyfurther, my Field spell's effect can activate."

Indeed, around the two of them the forest had begun to glow bright since Balkion had activated it's effect.

"Since I managed to negate the activation of your card, I can take a low level Naturia Monster from my deck and add it to my hand." She pulled the card out and stared at the strange looking Naturia monster.

_I can only hope you'll come in handy next time…_ she thought. "I end my turn, criminal."

"Heh, thank you." Roland said as he drew his card. "I do so wish to live up to my title…so I'll draw." He drew his card and showed it to Angua, "And play the spell card Bullet and Cartridge, a useful, if not rare little thing. Now I can discard the top four cards of my cards to the graveyard in order to draw a single card."

The loud clicking of a gun cartridge could be heard as Roland discarded the top four cards of his deck to the graveyard, before he drew a card. While he couldn't be seen, Angua could almost feel a smirk on his non-existant head.

"I'll set this card facedown, and switch all of my monsters back to defense mode." All of his warriors kneeled down before him, taking the defensive stance as a facedown card appeared behind the trio. "I think that's enough damage for one turn…"

"Then it's my turn!" Angua drew a card and grinned at it, "I'll summon Naturia Cliff in attack mode!" The portal opened in front of her, and the large slate wall appeared, glaring at him. "Okay you two, let's start bringing him down! Naturia Cliff, Naturia Balkion, attack his two bandits!"

Naturia Balkion tilted his head back, collecting the solar energy he had used before. Naturia Cliff, on the other hand, had begun to walk forward, making loud thundering booms and heavy craters as he approached. Balkion fired his energy beam at on of the Bandits, reducing him to ashes, while Cliff took the very simple way of destroying his monster, and _fell_ on him, crushing him flat.

"While it may be…subtle," Angua said, scratching her cheek a little bit, "I think it gets the job done, don't-" A massive pillar of fire erupted from the round where Cliff had last struck, shooting high into the bank ceiling, "Whoa! What the hell?!"

"You didn't think I didn't have a back up plan for this, now didn't you?" Roland laughed. "See, since you destroyed two of my Fire type warrior monsters, I'm allowed to summon one of my favorite monsters in my whole deck from my hand! Introducing…"

The monster that had stepped out from the pillar of fire was a handsome older man, wearing the old fashioned Sherriff's clothing from the old west, as was the style for the rest of Roland's card. He wore a leather vest over his strong chest with a long trench coat he wore over that, a pair of boots with spurs on the back of them, and a pair of pants. On either side of his hips was a six shooter, he donned a cowboy hat, and a golden star on his chest that had the name "SHERRIFF" emblazoned on it. (2900/1200) --- (3300/1200)

"…Sherriff Freed!"

Angua looked on in surprise at the larger monster as it appeared, and took a small step back. "Um…" She said, eyeing the new, larger monster as it appeared. "I'll admit that's really, really strong…" She said.

"Oh trust me, pig," Roland laughed, "You haven't seen anything until you've seen what HE can do…" Sherriff Freed flicked his jacket back to reveal both of his six shooters, which he pulled out of their holsters and spun around his index fingers before pointing them at her monsters, clicking the hammers back.

Angua gulped. _That's going to hurt really bad…_ Looking at her hand, she eyed one of the monsters in her hand, _But if I'm lucky, he'll attack Balkion first…_

"If you're done thinking about how badly this is gonna hurt, I'll take my turn," He drew his card and immediately added it to his hand, "Because I honestly have to agree with my old boss in this current situation: You can get much farther with a kind word and a gun than a kind word alone."

He paused for a moment and laughed a little, shaking his head.

"I never did see much use for the first part anyway. I'll activate my monsters effect. I can remove up to two Fire Warriors form my graveyard from play, and if I do, I can burn to a crisp one monster on your side of the field with less Attack points than the combined attack." He held up one of the Bandit of the Burning Plains and Twin Gun Fighter. As they turned into energy, they flowed into Freed's guns…

He pointed both of them at Balkion and pulled the triggers, firing each shot into the large, bark covered dragon. The dragon roared as each attack pierced it's body until finally it hit the ground and landed with a loud crash. It exploded into pixels a moment later.

"Be lucky that I can't attack the turn I use that effect," Roland said before he pointed to his facedown, which flipped up and revealed a sundial with the hand made of fire, "Though I'm always one to pull through the punches. Pyro Clock of Destiny let's me skip the turn ahead one turn, and let's my monster be free to attack!" The dial turned once, and Freed smirked, hitting the hammers back again.

"Now then, I say it's about time we end this thing once and for all, hm copper?" Roland asked, "FIRE!"

Before he pulled the triggers, a shadow appeared from above the trees of the Naturia Forest. It was a small fuzzy looking creature holding a vine as it swung down and landed on Naturia Cliff's flat head. Now in the sunlight, it was revealed to be a sickly green colored Kuriboh with feral eyes and a loin cloth around his body. He gave a squeaky rendition of the tarzan cry, and turned into energy which was absorbed into Cliff. His attack suddenly rose to 3000, but he didn't even survive the blast from Freed, which blew him into pebbles.

"Um…' Roland sounded geniuenly confused, "Wanna tell me what da' HELL that was?"

"A useful little thing I recently came around," Angua said, showing the monster from her hand, "Naturia Kuriboh, when discarded, doubles the attack of my Naturia Monster when it's being attacked by a stronger monster. So good news, I'm still in the duel, and Naturia Cliff let's me summon a new monster from my deck!"

Where Naturia Cliff just was appeared the bright pink monster, Naturia Butterfly, holding the dew drop in her hands. (500/1200)

"Humph," Roland said, "I would have my monster attack, but where would that get me? I'll just end my turn…"

**(Angua: 1900) - - - - - - - (Roland: 3900)**

Angua closed her eyes and drew her card. _Let it be something, let it be something, let it be something…_ She opened her eyes, and a small grin crossed her face. _Oh yeah, that's something._

"I summon Naturia Guardian in attack mode!" The tall tree appeared, opening it's eyes and flexing it's branch like limbs. (1600/300) "Now I'll tune both him and Naturia Butterfly together!"

Naturia Butterfly burst into three glowing rings like Rosewhip did earlier, which surrounded Naturia Guardian. The tree exploded into seven stars, which began to form a new being.

"Guardians of the forest, rise to keep the peace of Nature pure! Guardian of sky, air and spirit, summon to the field Naturia Phoenix!"

The stars had finally formed what appeared to be indeed a legendary Phoenix, only instead of blazing, burning fire around its body, it was instead orange and red leaves, like one would find at autumn time. It let out a loud screech as it landed on the ground, curling its wings back up. (2600/2000)

"It's pretty, I'll give you that," Roland said as he adjusted his suit. He didn't seem too worried, "But it's not that worrying you know. I'll turn your chicken into a meal fit for…well, me!"

"It's even funnier when you see what my monster can do to your so called best monsters," Angua said, grinning as her Phoenix shrieked, "By discarding one card in my hand…well, watch."

She discarded one of her cards, and Phoenix's wings and eyes began to glow and stared directly at Freed. Sherriff Freed took a step back before a bright red aura suddenly ripped from his body and was absorbed by Naturia Phoenix, who immediately roared loudly.

"See, Naturia Phoenix punishes those who gain attack from effects, like your command Knight. So he not only negates the bonus he gets, but he adds the Bonus to himself and as further punishment reduced your monsters attack by the same amount!"

Sherriff Freed fell to his knees as he felt more of his aura fall from his body as he fell even further to 2500 Attack, while Phoenix rose to 3000.

"Naturia Phoenix, attack Sheriff Freed with burning nature!" angua shouted. Phoenix' eyes opened again and he opened his wings, which began to pick up a small storm of leaves…

All of them flew over to Freed and collided with him. The Sherriff's eyes widened in surprise before he fell back, and finally exploded into pixels. The attack managed to send Roland spiraling back.

"You think I care?" he asked, "I've got plenty of ways to take down you and your lousy chicken! I'm still in this duel and I'm still higher than…" He paused when a Spell card appeared on the field with the name Naturia Eruption. His eyes read the card, and he slumped over a little. "…Shit."

The spell hit him with full force, and he screamed as he flew back onto his back, scattering his cards everywhere.

**(Angua: 1900) - - - - - - - (Roland: 0)**

Angua sighed in relief as her holograms vanished, her duel disk snapped back into place as she began to approach the currently down villain. "Now that that's done…why don't you jus pick yourself up and we'll just-"

A loud, clicking sound was what made her stop in mid step. As Roland began to pick himself up, he pulled his Duel disk off of his wrist which turned back into it's tommy gun form again.

"How about you be a good little bitch and back right the hell up," Roland said, pointing his gun at the hostages once more.

"But…" Angua said.

"Please, you bitch, you're too trusting. I'm a frigging _criminal_, and you're not a Shadowchasers so what on earth made you think I was gonna keep my word to begin with!?" he laughed a mocking laugh and slowly picked himself up, "Besides, it's been a while since I've seen someone bite the dust, so how about I pull this trigger and-"

BOOM!

Much to all of their surprises, the safe door behind Roland suddenly fell down with a thunderous boom, causing Roland to spin around and take his attention of the hostages. In the door way, his eyes blazing a bright crimson red was Scraps, his hands clenched tight into fists. He reached down and with amazing strength picked up the safe door and swung it. It hit Roland with enough force to make him crash through the wall of the bank and into the building on the other side.

Stunned silence filled the room as Scraps quickly rushed forward to Angua. "Miss Angua, Miss Angua," He said as his eyes fell from the bright rage red to a more calm green as he was by his side, "Are you hurt in any way? Did that monster harm you?"

"No, Scraps, I'm fine," She said with a sigh, rubbing the seweat from her forehead, "How about you? I didn't expect that kinda strength from you, at least enough to knock down a door THAT big…"

"…I did not expect that myself…"

Angua frowned and walked over to the hole in the wall Roland had made, "Come on, we should grab him before he tries anything else…is that a motorcycle engine I'm hearing?"

Indeed, as soon as she said that a bright light illuminated the hole, and the roar of an engine soon followed. Scraps managed to push Angua out of the way as the form erupted from the hole and screeched to a halt in the middle of the bank lobby. A dull chrome color like that of a gun, with a tinted wind shield on the front. Riding it was Roland, one hand on the handle bars.

"Hate to leave on such short notice, copper!" Roland taunted as he reached down and picked up the bag of coins he went through all this trouble to get, "But what can I say? The boss doesn't like it when his plans are behind schedule, so what can I say? We're on a dead line!" He revved the engines and slung the bag over his shoulder, "See ya later, copper!"

He drove out the all ready open door and toward the blockade of Police men. He managed to adjust so he hit the front of the car and fly into the air over the blockade and on the ground again. Turning a hard left, he blasted down the street. His right hand began to glow, and he laughed as he suddenly vanished into thin air.

Angua and Scraps watched in stunned silence as this occurred. None of the cops were making any noise.

…

On the other side of Los Angeles in an old abandoned Kaiba Land Theme park there stood a rather gaudy looking building. Unlike the other attractions of the Kaiba land theme park, this one wasn't stylized after one of Kaiba's or Yugi's famous monsters, but rather Pegasus' monsters. The outside was covered in laughing Toon monsters, the most prominent was the Toon Summoned Skull that loomed over all those who entered the building in the previous years, with a grin that wouldn't stop.

Bright, colorful letters spelled out "Toon World Fun House."

Deep, deep inside the seemingly endless labyrinth of joy and randomness stood a figure in front of one of the least messed up fun house mirror, a smirk currently etched into his face.

Vlad looked into the mirror as he stared at his criminal marking on his right cheek with pride. While others may have been worried about the supposed mark (those who could SEE it anyway), Vlad looked at his with a pride, proud of what he had did to strike against Jalal.

"To think people are supposed to be afraid of this thing," Vladimir chuckled admiring the symbol of his crime like one would a war medal. "And those three idiots were just the start. How many bodies are going to pile up when the dust settles? Thousands, ten thousands, millions, if that pup wants to bring me down he's going to have to wade knee deep through the blood of his little lapdogs."

"You do love the sound of your own voice Vladimir," Called a familiar voice, the light given off from Vladimir's cigarette barely illuminating the shapely female figure standing behind him. "Someone who didn't know you as well as I do might call that a sign of arrogance."

Vladimir chuckled not even turning around. "Is it really arrogance when your this good Ankoku? If Jalal knew how many of his grunts I've sent on an express route to hell even WITH his precious little treaty I'd be listed up with Darkness on the Shadowchaser's most wanted list. That last bunch was just a drop in the bucket."

"Oh sure, remind me of how you didn't even bother to leave me so much as a morsel of the remains." Ankoku said in what sounded like a pout.

Vladimir looked over his shoulder at her in amusement. "Forgive me if I considered making sure Jalal didn't have a way to track our movements higher priority then making you a doggy bag. We needed to make sure there was no way for Jalal's men to figure out who or what was behind the deaths of those three."

"Which leaves only the false trails my men have set up all over the country since last night, it would have been difficult to obtain the exact cards of each Shadowchaser's deck were it not for our...business partner." Ankoku said the last part with some distaste.

"Speaking of our portly friend overseas, did the last shipment of cards come yet? I recall a special order for three copies of one card in particular for your next assassin." Vladimir said turning and leaning back against the mirror.

"They were handed over at the rendezvous point as planned. By nightfall my servant will have assembled his equipment and will have begun the hunt for Damian. With him still recovering from his wounds he will be little more than a rat looking for a hole to hide under. An appropriate bit of prey for Lechku ." Ankoku said with a sinister smile.

"Oh I'm sure this one will put Damian through his paces, no questions about that. But I still don't think we've gained enough of a handle on his skills to be ready to get serious, so don't get your hopes up. There's a reason I bothered to take Damian under my wing in the first place, the boy's got potential."

Ankoku clucked her tongue as she slipped closer to Vladimir a rustling sound behind her like the moving of feathers. "You dwell too much on that Shadowchaser, have you so quickly forgotten MY skills? The others are away for the moment and I have more than one hunger to sate." She purred as she began to slowly disrobe.

Vladimir gave a fanged grin his eyes glowing with lust. He dropped the cigarette and ground it out with the heel of his boot the shadows descending once more upon the two entwining figures...

…

**Twin Gun Fighter  
Type**: Warrior/Fire/Effect  
**Attack/Defense**: 1600/1000  
**LV**: 4  
**Effect**: When this card attacks an opponents monster, after the damage step, inflict damage to your opponents Life Points equal to this cards ATK.

**Pierce Musketeer  
Type**: Warrior/Fire/Effect  
**Attack/Defense**: 1700/1000  
**LV**: 4  
**Effect**: When this card attacks a defense position monster with less DEF than this monsters ATK, inflict the difference to your opponents life points as damage.

**Grazing Bullet  
Type**: Trap  
**Image**: A man shooting a gun at an opponent, the bullet grazing the ear.  
**Effect**: Activate during your opponents battle phase. Target one face up monster on your opponents side of the field. The targeted monster cannot attack this turn. Inflict damage to both players equal to the ATK of the selected monster.

_Note: The above three cards were used at various times by Richie Merced in the Yugioh R manga. All creative credit goes to the writers of that episode_.

**Bullet and Cartridge  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: A smoking gun ejecting a use cartridge  
**Effect**: Send the top four cards of your deck to the graveyard and draw 1 card. Then, place this card on top of your deck. If you draw this card placed on top of your deck by this effect, it is sent to the graveyard.

_Note: Bullet and Cartridge was first used by Kiryu in a future episode of Yugioh 5D's. All creative credit goes to the writers of that episode._

**Bandit of the Burning Plain  
Type**: Warrior/Fire/Effect  
**Attack/Defense**: 1200/1000  
**LV**: 3  
**Effect**: When this card is Normal Summoned or Set, you may discard the top card of your deck to the graveyard to Special Summon one Level 4 or lower Fire-Attribute WARRIOR-Type monster from your deck to the field. The summoned monster cannot be used in a Tribute Summon and cannot be used in a Synchro Summon. You cannot attack the turn you use this effect.

**Sheriff Freed  
Type**: Warrior/Fire/Effect  
**Attack/Defense**: 2900/1200  
**LV**: 7  
**Effect**: This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card can only be Special Summoned from your hand when Two Fire-attribute WARRIOR-Type monsters are destroyed as a result of battle in the same battle phase. Once per turn, you can remove from play up to 2 Fire-attribute Warrior-type monsters from your graveyard to destroy one face up monster your opponent controls whose ATK is equal to or less than the combined ATK of the removed card. This card cannot attack the turn you use this effect.

**Naturia Kuriboh  
Type**: Beast/Earth/Effect  
**Attack/Defense**: 300/200  
**LV**: 1  
**Effect**: Activate only when a face up "Naturia" monster is selected as an attack target by an opponents monster. Discard this card to double the ATK of the targeted monster. Any battle damage done to your opponent through battle with the effected card is reduced to 0.

**Naturia Phoenix  
Type**: Winged-Beast/Earth/Synchro/Effect  
**Attack/Defense**: 2600/2000  
**LV**: 7  
**Effect**: 1 EARTH-Attribute Tuner + One or more Non-Tuner EARTH-Attribute monsters.  
Once per turn you may discard one card from your hand and select one monsters whose ATK is higher than it's original amount through a card effect. Return the selected monsters ATK to it's original amount and increase this cards ATK by the amount decreased. Afterwards, reduce the selected monsters ATK by the same amount.

**Naturia Eruption  
Type**: Spell/Quick-Play  
**Image**: Naturia Balkion, Landols and Beast all roaring loudly at an approaching Picador Fiend  
**Effect**: Activate this card only when a "Naturia" Synchro monster destroys an opponents monsters through battle and sends it to the graveyard. Inflict damage to your opponents Life Points equal to the number of "Naturia" monsters in your graveyard X 400.

…

Can't win them all, eh? Next time, after his meeting with Glitch, Damian is attacked by Ankoku's hit man. Can his new deck stand up to the opponents advanced mechs? Find out next time in "Boss Rush".


	15. Boss Rush

Disclaimer: I do not own the Yu-Gi-Oh Franchise, nor do I intend to make money from it. I do not own the Shadowchasers, that belongs to Cybercommander. Any characters you see belong to me.

…

The street lamp buzzed dimly, flickering between light and dim every now and again, moths and other forms of insects began to buzz around it in a blind stupor, clashing into the plastic casing and bouncing back a moment later.

There was only one form under the buzzing light at this hour, his eyes hidden behind a pair of dark shades. He moved a toothpick from one side of his mouth to the other, adjusting his black jacket around him to fit him better.

Looking off to the side, Damian looked into the shadows. Frowning, he pulled the toothpick from his mouth and crossed his arms. "Glitch, you can come out, there are no cops around here, I all ready checked."

"Hey, fool me once, shame on you…" Glitch hissed at him as he scurried into the light of the Street lamp. "I don't understand why we ALWAYS have to do this at night, why not do it in the day, when we aren't in a prime area to get ambushed? I'm pretty damn sure YOU know the Sons of Tyranny are still around, and-"

"And that's why I called you," Damian said sternly, making Glitch jump an inch into the air, "If I'm going to have ANY kind of a chance at beating these guys, I'm going to need the cards I asked you to get me. Because what better person to help get me ultra rare cards than a gremlin who happens to have connections all over town, hm?" a smirk crossed his pale face.

Glitch glared at him. Damian noticed that he was constantly looking over his shoulder, as if expecting something to leap out at the darkness them. Of course, based on their history with late night business such as tonight, his worries were entirely justified. When he was sure they were alone, he reached into his jacket and pulled out a few cards, about six actually.

"These weren't easy to come by," He said as he waved them in front of his face almost tauntingly, "so you know that if you want them…" he snapped them together into a single pile, "You're gonna have to give me something of equal or more value. So I'd LOVE to see what you've got in store." He grinned a little bit and crossed his arms. His hand continued to rock back and forth with the cards, as if taunting Damian.

With a sigh, the Dark Shadowchaser reached into his own jacket, as he did he said "Do you still have that Vehicroid deck you're still trying to perfect, Glitch?"

"Yeah, I do what of it?"

"Well, I happen to have some cards here that should suffice to your tastes," he pulled two cards from his deck to his hand, "Seeing as if you somehow can't incorporate them into your deck, then hey, they can sell for quite the pretty penny."

He revealed the cards, and Glitchs' eyes widened in surprise. "Gah! You…" He reached up weakly, "you have a Chimeratech Overdragon AND Overload fusion?!"

"And just because I'm not a total jackass," Damian said, adjusting so a third card was revealed, "I'll even add in this, Cyber Dragon Zwei, which acts like a Cyber Dragon while in the graveyard. So If you wanted…" he grinned, pushing his sunglasses down his nose a little bit further, "you could totally destroy anyone who dueled you."

"Gimme, gimme, gimme!" He snatched at the three cards and threw the six cards at Damian, "Ah Damian, I knew you wouldn't shift me on the goods…' He grinned deviously at the cards in his grimy little paws. "It's a pleasure doin' business with you…"

"Now hang on there…" Damian reached down and grabbed Glitch by the ears, pulling him up to his eyelevel.

"OW! Why the ears?! Why do you Shadowchasers ALWAYS go for the frigging ears?!" Glitch shouted in agony, his left eye twitching hard, baring his small razor sharp teeth.

"I have a feeling you're not telling me everything you know…" Damian said, "I know it's a stretch, but you're the only one around here I can trust for information I can trust…"

Glitch growled a little bit, his right eye twitching a little as he struggled against the Shadowchasers tight grip on his ear. "Just because…" He grunted, trying to shake himself lose, "I happen to have connections all over this city doesn't mean I know what your little rag tag team of monsters is doing!"

He pulled himself off and dusted himself, his teeth still shining in the flickering light, gripping a claw tight. "I don't know anything else other than what YOU all ready know. The Sons of Tyranny are here, and frankly, I don't know what they're planning. I haven't heard a DAMN thing…and knowing that from ME, that's pretty damn surprising!"

Unbeknownst to the two, a shady looking figure was perched atop one of the buildings, tilting it's head to the side as it focused its attention at Damian. Claws gently clacked against the hard concrete as it chuckled a little under its breath. "Kk-kk…" It murmured under it's head. A hand reached up to one of the large boxes on its shoulders. "Prepare to meet your fate, Shadowchaser…Kk-kk!" It tugged on the cord it grabbed in its sharpened talons…

Glitch's ears suddenly twitched something fierce and his all ready watery eyes widened. He jumped at Damian, shrieking, "GET DOWN YOU IDIOT!" he managed to tackle the much larger Shadowchaser. A loud THUNK was heard as something drilled its way into the wall where Damian's head was just at.

"What the hell!?" Damian shouted in shock as he scrambled away. "What was that?!"

"Dammit!" Glitch shouted as he jumped from Damian's knocked over figure, "That's it Damian! Next time you wanna talk to me, you get me when there's light out, and there's witnesses! I'm getting too damn old for this!" With that, he scampered away across the corner and vanished from sight.

Damian in the mean time watched as whatever had imbedded itself into the wall behind him suddenly ripped itself out and zipped back up to the building the figure was sitting on. With a hiss of disappointment, the figure gripped another cord and pulled.

Damian gasped and ducked down as another of the strange objects imbedded itself into the wall just a mere inch above his head. He dove out of the way as another two imbedded themselves into the wall. He managed to pull his sword from his sheath and hold it up to barely block the next blow, able to knock it off course but slam Damian against the wall and knocked the air from his lungs. As he gasped for air, he saw the strange, tube like objects ripping themselves from the wall. Damian looked down at the one he had knocked away from him and saw it was starting to reel itself in.

Thinking quickly, he reached down and grabbed it by the string as the force began to pull it back. With a loud shout, Damian tugged on it in return.

The figure on top of the building suddenly squawked in surprise as he fell to the ground across the street from Damian, landing with a none too dignified thud. Groaning, the figure began to pick itself up.

"Okay buddy, I'll give you credit for the interesting weapon design," Damian said, throwing the drill like object off to the side. "But I'm not in the mood to go back to the hospital, so how about you pick yourself up and I'll…" He blinked as the figure lifted itself up off the ground, "Wow, you are an UGLY son of a bitch."

The man was very lanky, standing up with almost no muscle mass in its body. It's eyes were wide and bright green, taking up almost half of its face, or at least It looked like it did considering it was wearing a mask that looked similar to that of an Owl. It's clothing consisted of a Japanese robe, and on its shoulders were two large, cube like objects that made Damian wonder how to lift it up. It's hands were large, almost talon like claws.

"kk-kk, very clever, Shadowchaser," chuckled the strange being, "not many can handle the awesome might of my drill launchers…"

"Drill launchers?" Damian asked, cocking an eyebrow as he looked at the large, cube like protrusions from his shoulders. "I'll give you credit, I haven't been attacked by those yet…"

The strange, owl like demon giggled, "Kk-kk, made and created by the mighty Lechku, at your service!" It bowed to him and giggled, unsheathing its talons. "Kk-kk, and I have strict orders to destroy you, so you will no longer interfere with my mistress' plans!"

_Mistress?_ Damian thought, gripping a fist tight. _Just how many people out there want me dead? Unless this mistress is affiliated with Vlad…dammit, best not to think about this, bad feelings begets bad news…_

"I suppose you realize I'm going to have to duel you now," Damian said as he slowly sheathed his blade.

Lechku giggled a little bit and tugged on one more cord. The drill that was beside Damian's feet suddenly zipped back into the home on Lechku's shoulder. "Oh trust me Shadowchaser; I knew you would play that card. And while I can attest, as my clan isn't bound by your silly little clause, but I will admit…" He tapped a taloned claw against his beak, "I'm always one for playing with my prey before I strike them down…I don't see why not. Very well, I accept!"

"Your clan isn't bound by the fair rules game?" Damian asked as he reached onto his back and drew his duel disk, "Just what kind of beast are you?"

"Kk-Kk! Surely, you do not think of me as THAT gullible, Shadowchaser, that I would explain my entire clan's origins! That is something for me to know…" The strange owl like beast reached behind it's back, and pulled a Duel disk from behind it. Throwing it onto his wrist, he snapped them all into place. "And you to NEVER find out!"

_Dammit, why do I ALWAYS get the freaks? _Damian asked as he snapped his duel disk into position, slipping his brand new cards into his deck and allowing the auto-shuffler to do it's job, _The freaks who never tell me what to do? If it weren't for the fair fight clause, I'd be dead three different times over…thank god for Duel monsters it seems._

Lechku giggled a little and drew his opening hand, while Damian did the same thing. "Kk-kk, let your downfall begin, Shadowchaser! Let's duel!"

**(Damian: 8000) - - - - - - - (Lechku: 8000)**

"Since I'm far more important than a common rat like you, I'll start this duel off! Draw!" Lechku shrieked as he drew his card. "Kk-kk! And I couldn't have asked for better! I'll start by playing the field spell card, Gradius Universe!"

The air around the two duelists suddenly exploded into pitch darkness, more so than before. The two were suddenly surrounded by what appeared to be outer space, stars dotting the land scape. Damian looked down and jumped, noticing he wasn't standing on any ground.

_I hate these Field Spells…they mess me up really bad…_

"We'll get to what my field does in a matter of moments, kk-kk, in the mean time, I'll set one monster in defense mode…and one card facedown!" in front of him appeared a horizontal and a vertical card, floating there in the middle of space. "That ends my turn, Shadowchaser!"

"And starts mine, draw!" Damian drew his card, and his eyes widened in surprise. A grin crossed his lips. "Heh, feel lucky bird brain, you get to see one of my new cards in action, and you're gonna be the first victim! I summon Dark Crusader in attack mode!"

Dark Crusader appeared in the middle of the massive expanse of space, holding it's large blade in it's hand. (1600/200)

"New card?" Lechku questioned, tilting his head to the side. "Kk-kk, that's a dark card staple if I ever saw it, it's nothing new!"

"I'm getting to that, hold your feathers!" Damian shouted as he took a card in his hand and slipped it into the graveyard. "Now by discarding any amount of Dark cards in my hand, my monster grows that much stronger." Dark Crusaders blade began to glow and he rose to 2000 Attack. "Now what makes this combo stronger is the monster I just discarded. By discarding Dark monsters in my hand that make up eight levels or more…" he discarded two cards from his hand. "I can summon it from the graveyard!"

The space beside him suddenly began to shake and rumble as a massive figure suddenly appeared beside the Dark Crusader. At first glance, it appeared to be the infamous Ancient Gear Golem, but it's entire body was black, rather than rusted. It's eyes began to glow bright red as it roared mechanically. (3000/3000)

"Feast your eyes on the Dark Gear Golem!"

"SQUAK!" Lechku suddenly shrieked up in surprise at the massive monster appearing before him. "Such a monster, and on the first turn!?"

"Now let me show you how I deal with people who think it's fun to attack me in the middle of the night!" Damian pointed forward to Lechku's hidden monster. "Dark Gear Golem, pound that thing into a paste with Dusk piston punch!"

The Dark Gear Golem's eyes suddenly began to glow a bright, ominous red. The gears in it's body began to whirl to life and the Golem threw a punch at the defense monster with it's larger fist. What appeared to be a large space ship appeared, split down the middle with guns on either side. The massive fist crushed the machine into little pieces.

Damian paused for a moment before he sighed. "Did I just destroy a Gradius?"

"Kk-kk, and set into motion the beginning of your end!" Lechku cackled as his deck suddenly began to shuffle itself. "Since you destroyed a Level four or lower light machine monster, I can add another copy of the same monster to my hand from my deck, courtesy of Gradius Universe!"

A card slipped into his hand and he looked at it gleefully for a moment and giggled. He suddenly shrieked again as the massive burning sword of the Dark Crusader drove itself into his side, and he fell back on his backside, growling. "Kk-kk…"

**(Damian: 8000) - - - - - - - (Lechku: 6000)**

"First blood…" Lechku picked himself up, "May go to you first, Shadowchaser…but victory shall be mine…kk-kk…this I swear!"

"Yeah we'll see how far you can get in this duel with a deck filled with Video game characters." Damian chuckled as a card appeared behind the Dark Crusader. "Because I don't think there's a Gradius card out there that can beat any of my current monsters. So get ready to start begging for mercy!"

"Yes, the Gradius cards themselves may very well be weak…" Lechku drew his card, "But there are plenty of ways…kk-kk…to make them true things to be feared…I shall summon my Gradius to the field."

A copy of the space ship that was destroyed appeared in front of the strange owl like demon. (1200/800) --- (1700/800)

"I can only assume Gradius Universe gave it that 500 Attack bonus," Damian murmured, his arms crossing over his chest.

"Kk-kk, with the all mighty power of my Universe, all of my monsters with 1200 Attack or less gain a bonus! And what's more, kk-kk, watch as I swarm the field with smaller units! I summon not one, but two copies of Gradius Option!" The compartment on either side of the Gradius suddenly flipped open and two triangular objects floated out on either side of the Gradius. (?/? X 2)

"And their attack is always that equal to their mother ship!" An electrical bolt shot between the three ships. The two smaller ships rose to 1700 Attack points, each.

"That's not even enough to take care of my Dark Crusader…."

"Gradius! ATTACK HIS DARK GEAR GOLEM!"

Damian blinked in surprise as Gradius' cannon suddenly sprouted from under the ship and began to build up energy. Damian narrowed his eyes and began to chant in his head, _Please just be a stupid move, please just be a stupid move, please just be a stupid move…_

That was when Lechku suddenly discarded a card from his hand very quickly, and a glowing angelic looking being appeared behind Gradius. He gently placed his hands on the ships hull, and much to his surprise the attack of the monster rose to 4700! The cannon fired it's blast at the Dark Gear Golem, ripping a massive hole in it's mid section. The giant stood there for another moment, before it's eye went black, and he fell over in a massive explosion of robotic parts.

"Don't…" Damian said, voice barely above a surprised whisper. "Don't tell me that was…"

"Yes it was!" Lechku cackled, much to Damian's horror Lechku's head turned an almost perfect 180 degrees, so Damian was now looking at the back of his head, "You, Shadowchaser, just fell victim to the all mighty power of the monster, Honest!"

"How the HELL did someone like you get a card THAT rare?!" Damian exclaimed in horror, "I think there's only supposed to be one of those types of monsters!" a short pause. "I think…I don't think I've ever seen anyone outside of Yusuke use them, personally…huh. IS it a one of a kind thing, or has it been mass produced?"

"If you're done MONOLOUGING with yourself," Lechku chattered, "It's still my turn! Kk-kk, and the bonus my monster acquired is shared between the Gradius options are well!" It was true, a much stronger bolt of lightning went between the three monsters, and the two Gradius options shot up to 4700 Attack points each!

"And now that my fleet is ready to soar…" Lechku giggled, "Kk-kk, it's time to end this here and now! Gradius Option, destroy his Dark Crusader!"

A pinpoint of light began to glow on the end of the triangular energy ship, and it shot out. It struck Dark Crusader in the chest. The Dark Warrior froze for a moment or two before he exploded violently into pixels. Damian narrowed his eyes as the last monster began to charge up it's beam.

"Fire, my monster!" Lechku shouted, pointed a claw forward, "And destroy him! Kk-kk!"

The laser fired at the Dark Shadowchaser. Before the attack could connect with him a figure appeared in front of him, laden with heavy armor. The attack split apart as the warrior blocked the blow from reaching Damian.

Damian sighed heavily and wiped his forehead slowly. "God, Necro Gardna is such a damn good blocker…"

Lechku's eyes widened quite a bit behind his mask, and he squawked, "Kk-kk, a minor setback! While I move onto my next main phase, the bonus my monsters acquire is lost…so I'll merely end my turn."

**(Damian: 3600) - - - - - - - (Lechku: 6000)**

_When exactly did I lose control of this duel? _Damian asked as he drew his card and looked at it. _Damn Honest…for all I know this is from that counterfeiter Giovanni was talking about, if this guy IS affiliated with the Sons of Tyranny, then he's probably getting these cards from the guy 14 is supposed to be looking up. God I hope he finishes that soon, I don't want to be up to my ass in Crush Cards, Honests and Blue Eyes……_

He looked at his hand and bit his lip gently. _I think I can pull this off. If I can trick him into doing exactly what I need him to do, I can turn this thing around quickly!_

"I'll summon Vengeful Shinobi in attack mode." A portal of darkness appared in front of him, and from it appeared a ninja monster, holding a kunai in it's hands and stand there quietly. (400/800). "Now I'll set one card facedown and turn it over to you."

Lechku narrowed his eyes and drew his card._ This simple fool thinks I am this gullible? I know his plan! His monster allows him to draw a card when it's selected as an attack target! So now doubt will his facedown card protect his monster from battle and allow him to draw a card. Or perhaps even worse, it's Mirror force and will leave me wide open for an attack!_ His eyes slowly crawled over to his new card. _But with this, I won't need to worry about his monster remaining on the field for future use!_

"Kk-kk, I play the spell card, Photon Blast! Since I control a Gradius on my side of the field, I'm allowed to destroy one face up monster you control! So say goodbye to your Shinobi, no free cards for you, Shadowchaser!"

A missile suddenly fired from the underside of the Gradius, which struck the Vengeful Shinobi and blew it into shards. Suddenly, much to Lechku's surprise, Damian began to laugh.

"What is so funny, Shadowchaser? I just blew away your last line of defense, you're wide open!" Lechku shouted, "I will give you credit though, laughing in the face of danger like that…"

"I'm not laughing in the face of danger, you just screwed yourself over!" Damian laughed.

Suddenly, much to the owl demon's shock, a massive form slammed down beside him. It was a massive ape like figure, like the well known Green Baboon, defender of the forest, but like the rest of his monsters he had a much darker feel to it. It's fur was black and grey, it's eyes red, and the tree stump in his hand was large and almost spiked. It let out an echoing roar like one would hear from the Legendary King Kong. (2600/1800)

Lechku's eyes widened in surprise. "Where did…"

"Remember the monsters I discarded when I summoned my Dark Gear Golem? One of them was my Dark Baboon here, which I can summon from my graveyard if I happen to have a Dark monster be destroyed by a card effect if I remove a dark monster from play." He held up and pocketed his Vengeful Shinobi. "So thanks for that."

Lechku snarled a little bit and bgan to turn the cards on his disk. "I have no choice but to switch my monsters to defense position…" All of his ships suddenly fell down to the ground, resting there. "And end my turn…"

"Damn right, draw!" Damian drew his card and looked at it. Frowning, he slipped in a spell, "I play Allure of Darkness. I draw two cards, then ditch a Dark monster…" He drew two cards, and pocketed a copy of his Metabo Globster. "And I couldn't have asked for better. I'll summon Dark Battle Ox in attack mode."

As repetitive as it was, the always memorable Battle Ox appeared in front of him. Only instead of his armor being red and yellow, it was also black, and the axe it carried was a lot more serrated. (1700/1000)

Lechku sighed a little bit. "Kk-kk, I should be surprised but I'm really not…just how many cards did you GET from that gremlin?"

"More than enough to take you out! And Dark Battle Ox takes after the Enraged Battle Ox, and gives all of my Dark monsters a trample effect! So Dark Battle Ox, attack his Gradius with Battle Axe Blast!"

Snorting loudly, the Battle Ox rushed forward and lifted his axe into the air. He brought it down on the much larger battle ship and cut in clean in half like a hot knife through battle. The Gradius machine remained there for a few moments before it exploded violently, taking the other two Gradius option ships with them.

"Eh…" Lechku said nervously, backing away as the Baboon lifted up its club threateningly, baring it's teeth at its opponent. "Kk-kk….Mercy?"

There was no mercy as the massive club was brought down hard on the owl demon, crushing him flat under the force of the blow. The Dark Baboon checked out if he was still alive, tilting its head to the side before it nodded and bounded back over to Damian's side of the field, please with its actions.

"Kk-kk…I'm getting far too old for this line of work…"

**(Damian: 3600) - - - - - - - (Lechku: 2500)**

"Heh, looks like I'm in control again," Damian taunted, "Now before I go and jinx myself AGAIN, I'm just gonna end my turn. Or you can even quit now and tell your mistress or whoever the hell it is your working for you're gonna have to try a LOT harder than a frigging bird to take me down!"

Lechku looked up at Damian, his mask all kinds of messed up as he clutched a taloned claw tightly. "I will show you…why you should fear the wrath of my kind! Never doubt the power of the birds! The majesty of the creatures of the sky is those the others DREAM of having! I shall show you the terror you face right now! Draw!"

_Creatures of the sky? This guy doesn't even have any wings! He can't even fly!_

"I summon Victory Viper XX03 in attack mode!" Another ship flew onto the field from the depths of the space. This one looked like Gradius as well, but it was far more detailed, with gold trim and larger lasers. (1200/1000) --- (1700/1000)

"Now I'll equip my monster with the powerful LEV Transformation spell!" Suddenly, several more ports on the ship began to open up, revealing several more guns, cannons and missiles. "When equipped with a monster with an original attack of twelve hundred or less it doubles its original attack! So now my monster gains an additional bonus, enough to take down your giant ape!" (1700/1000) --- (2900/1000)

"Before going any further, I'll play my trap card, Cyber Summon Blaster."

The facedown flipped up, revealing a large satellite standing beside him.

"Kk-kk, now every time I special summon a machine time monster, you'll lose an addition 300 Life Points!" Lechku giggled.

"Wait…" Damian said, "You had that on the field this whole time? You could have dealt me 600 Damage if you used that, and then summoned the two Gradius Options…"

Lechku was silent for a moment, as if he were thinking about this. "Victory Viper, attack Dark Baboon!" One of the cannons on the underside of the fighter jet began to glow. A massive energy blast fired out and struck the Baboon, knocking it in the chest and blowing it to pieces. "now I use Victory Vipers effect! I summon a token to the field that has the same stats as he does!"

A floating ball of liquid metal suddenly pulled away from the Victory Viper and began to form until a pure silver, undetailed version of the Victory Viper, weapons out and all. (2900/1000)

"Kk-kk, and since I special summoned a machine type monster, you lose a good chunk of your life points!" The tank like object began to charge up and a bolt of lightning shot out, striking him in the chest and took him back a step. "And now my token destroys your copy cat ox! Kk-kk, prepare to face my wrath!"

The copy of the battle ship began to glow before it fired a rather large blast of energy out, striking the Battle Ox. With a bellowing roar, the monster fell back and landed on the ground. Moments later, it exploded.

**(Damian: 1800) - - - - - - - (Lechku: 2500)**

"I will admit…" Damian spoke up as he clenched a fist tight, moving his tooth pick from one side of his mouth to the other. "You're a lot stronger than I gave you credit for…"

"Kk-kk, don't you forget it either, Shadowchaser! You have only seen a small amount of my deck is capable of; you haven't a clue what I have in store for you!" Lechku giggled a little bit. "Now take your turn and stop wasting my time!"

Damian drew his card and he frowned. "I'll play my facedown card," He said as his facedown card flipped up. "Different Dimension Burial, which returns my three monsters I removed from play back to my graveyard." The after images of the Vengeful Shinobi, the Metabo Globster, and Necro Gardna appeared just above his head. Turning into shadows, they flew into his graveyard.

"But I'm not done. I needed those guys in my graveyard so I can play the Spell, Beginning of the End. Since I have eight Dark monsters in my graveyard, I can remove five of them from play to draw three cards." Vengeful Shinobi, Dark Gear Golem, Dark Battle Ox, Dark Crusader and Metabo Globster slipped out of his graveyard, and he pocketed them. Drawing three cards, he frowned.

_I can stall for a turn and pad my life points…_Damian thought. _But it would only be a momentary defense. I have to hope I get something good next turn._

"I'll set two cards facedown then summon Doomsday Horror in attack mode." The shadows before him began to form and meld before a rather frightening looking imp appeared, made entirely out of darkness. The only color aside from the darkness was it's eyes and mouth, which was all blood red. "And his attack is equal to the number of removed from play dark cards!" (1500/1500)

Lechku giggled a little bit and drew a card. Frowning at his new card, he slipped a new card into his duel disk, and the last copy of his Gradius monster appeared in front of him, glowing from the energies of the universe. (1200/800) --- (1700/800)

Lechku pointed a talon at the Doomsday Horror. "Destroy his abomination my Star Fleet!" Victory Viper began to charge up its energy, and shot the blast. Before the attack struck, Necro Gardna appeared in front of the blast and knocked it away with a simple backhand, causing it to disappear into the expanse of the Gradius Universe.

"And with another Dark Monster removed from play…" Damian said as the Doomsday Horror grew a little bit larger and rose to 1800 attack.

Lechku snarled. "Kk-kk, it's still too weak to survive the blast of my monster! Token, annihilate that thing!" As the energy began to build, Damian's facedown flipped up.

"Now that he's lived up his Usefulness, I'll play my trap card, Destruction potion!" The Doomsday Horror shrieked loud and suddenly burst into pixels, which remained floating in mid air, "Which destroys my monster and increases my Life points equal to his attack. Not only that, since Doomsday Horror was destroyed, all of my removed from play cards are returned to my graveyard." The after images of all of Damian's previously removed from play cards suddenly flew into his graveyard. Damian sighed a little bit.

**(Damian: 3600) - - - - - - - (Lechku: 2500)**

"You fool! By destroying your own monster, you've made yourself wide open to a direct attack! Victory Viper token, direct attack!"

The attack was still charging, and it fired directly at the Shadowchaser. Suddenly, a tornado of pure dark wind appeared surrounding his body. The energy beam fired, but was deflected from the attack.

Damian smirked a little bit. "Dark Wall of Wind is quite the useful little thing, hm? Now you can't attack me directly this turn."

"Very clever, Shadowchaser…kk-kk, but can you keep it up? I have the field advantage as of now, with two monsters stronger than anything you can even HOPE to summon. So unless you can stall…" He watched as Damian drew his card, "then you have no chance of winning, even if you DID summon a monster to the field- KK-KK!"

He was stopped in mid sentence as several pure black swords flew from the universe and slammed down around his monsters with resounding _CLANG!_ Sounds. After the swords settled for a moment, glowing with an ominous looking green light, Gradius and Victory Viper all vanished into facedown cards amongst the black swords.

"Swords of Concealing light," Damian said with a small chuckle, crossing his arms over his chest, "you gotta love how useful this little thing is. Especially since your Victory Viper is technically gone, your token now bites the big one."

The token and the equip spell that had previously been on Victory Viper suddenly exploded into pixels.

"Now that I'm defended for a short amount of time, at least, I'll set one monster in defense mode and call that a turn. I believe I just turned this thing around, and I'm eagerly waiting for your rebuttal."

Lechku drew his card and looked at it from behind his mask. "Kk-kk, truly Shadowchaser you are one of surprises, aren't you? Of course, it's nothing a little work can't solve, especially since I'm the highest member of my mistress' clan! I'll show you, I summon Lord British Space Fighter in attack mode!"

Another slim looking space fighter appeared this one with silver and red trim with guns on either side of the cock pit. (1200/800) --- (1700/800)

"Lord British Space Fighter, attack his defense monster with ripple laser!" A thin beam of energy shot from the ship and to the facedown card. The grinning, cackling form of the well known Morphing Jar appeared and stuck his tongue out at Lechku before it exploded into pixels.

"Kk-kk, you'd think Shadowchasers would find a better way to draw cards outside of using that damn jug," Lechku chattered as he discarded his current hand and drew a full hand.

"Hey, there's the saying of if it isn't broken, don't fix it," Damian said as he simply drew his opening hand, having no hand to begin with. "I mean, if you can tell me an easier way to draw a full hand, I've be happy to hear it."

"Kk-kk, I activate my monsters Special Effect! Since I destroyed one of your monsters, Lord British can attack you directly!" Another thin laser shot out of the smaller guns and struck Damian, whose breath was caught on his throat as he took a small step backward, holding the portion of his chest where it had hit.

**(Damian: 1900) - - - - - - - (Lechku: 2500)**

"Kk-kk, with a new hand opens up new possibilities, Shadowchaser. I'll set one card facedown and end my turn." A facedown card appeared behind the three monsters he controlled.

Damian drew his card quickly and slapped it on the disk, "I summon Dark Valkyria in Attack mode!" The dark copy of Dunames Dark Witch appeared in front of him, her silver armor glowing in the dim light of the universe. (1800/1050) "Dark Valkyria, attack Lord British with Blasphemous blast!" Dark Valkyria began to glow, all of the energy coursing to her hands. She fired the energy orb at the Space ship, blowing it to metal scraps.

Another card jutted from Lechku's deck, obviously the other copy of his Lord British card obviously. Damian chuckled a little bit and gestured. Two cards appeared behind Dark Valkyria, and he ended his turn.

Lechku drew his card and slipped the spell card into his disk. "Kk-kk, I shall play the spell card, Behind Enemy Lines. Now I'll be generous, and give you access to my monsters!" Sure enough, both of Lechku's monsters, who were still being held down by Damian's Swords of Concealing Light. "And for each one I just gave you, I gain an addition 300 life points! But why would I give you my monsters, the Shadowchaser questioned himself! Simple, in my deck, the more cannon fodder you have, the more abilities I can access!"

In a glowing portal of energy appeared another of the Lord British Space Fighters, glowing as the cannons on either side of it began to buzz to life. "Lord British Space Fighter, attack his facedown Gradius!"

The cannon fired at the facedown monster, blowing apart the final ship of the Gradius line in Lechku's deck. Having an additional attack, the next laser shot out and struck his facedown Victory Viper XX03.

"Kk-kk, now my space ship makes a Multi to my side of the field, which activates my Cyber Summon Blaster!" Once more, another copy of the space ship fighter, this one an exact copy and not entirely made out of liquid mercury appeared in to the side of the original space fighter. (1200/1200) --- (1700/1200)

Damian grunted as another blast from the Cyber Summon Blast struck him in the chest.

**(Damian: 1600) - - - - - - - (Lechku: 3000)**

_This is getting damn annoying…_ Damian grunted a little bit, rubbing his chest to check if it was smoking. _I better finish this off soon…_

"My turn! Draw!" Damian shouted as he drew his card quickly. He pointed to Dark Valkyria. "I envoke Dark Valkyria's Gemini effect. By summoning her again, she gains a Spell counter." The glowing orb on her tiara began to glow, and she rose to 2100 Attack points. "And all 2100 attack is going right for your Lord British, attack!"

Valkyria began to glow a little bit brighter this time, lifting up her hands and firing the impressive sized blast at the battle ship, causing it to explode into a million pixels. Another card slipped out, and he added it to his hand.

"Moving onto my second main phase…" Dark Valkyria began to glow again, and she held her hand up to the glowing counter on her tiara, "By removing the counter from her, one of your monsters bites the big one. And I don't want you having a monster, be it a token or otherwise!" The glowing stopped slowly, and the token very violently and unexpectedly exploded. Lechku jumped back quickly.

"Kk-kk, you're grasping at straws, Shadowchaser…" Lechku growled a little bit, "and proving to be quite irksome!"

"Yeah, yeah, let's try to come up with some better trash talking or even a decent conversation, shall we?" Damian asked with a chuckle. "Let's not go for the monotonous draw, move, insult, end, draw, move, insult, end, let's just keep it as lively as we can, so it can fun for both of us, shall we?"

Lechku stared at him for a moment and finally giggled, shaking his head a little bit. "Very well. You want an interesting conversation instead of generic insults? Kk-kk, let's discuss what my mistress has in store for this annoying little town of yours…" Lechku drew his card and looked at it, "Let's discuss the screams your people will release once the plan comes to fruition…well, let's just say…it'll be one hell of a time!"

_Because that's not ominous in the frigging least.._ Damian thought, gulping at the ominous foreshadowing.

"Kk-kk, I'll play the Spell card, Heaven's Light Call. By discarding any number of Light monsters in my hand, I can add any number of Light monsters from my deck to my hand. At the cost of not being able to summon them as long as they're in my hand…" He held up a Victory Viper XX03, and discarded it. Another copy of his deck slipped out, and with a cackle, showed it to him. "And believe me, this isn't the kind of card you summon!" Indeed, the card he'd drawn was a second copy of Honest.

He gestured and another glowing portal of energy appeared in front of him. From the portal appeared a MUCH thinner space ship, this one with a orange tinted cock pit window and larger jet thrusters, otherwise the whole thing was yellow. (1200/800) --- (1700/800)

"Falchion Beta! Attack this fool and end this duel, combined with the power of Honest!" He discarded the card.

The glowing energy cannon formed at the top of the monster as the long, blonde haired fairy appeared behind the monster, increasing his attack to 3500. The cannon fired…

Damian pointed to his facedown card, watching as it flipped up. "I'll play my trap card, Dark Shield! By sending one dark monster from my deck to the graveyard…" He held up Dark Resonator and slipped it into his graveyard. "My monster isn't destroyed, Damage is halved, and I get to draw a card!"

A black shield appeared in front of Dark Valkyria that attempted to block the blow entirely, but it didn't do much but keep Valkyria alive. The remaining blows knocked Damian back flat on his back, landing with a dull thud. "Ow…" He grunted a little bit.

**(Damian: 700) - - - - - - - (Lechku: 2600)**

"We're down to the final stretch, Shadowchaser! Kk-kk," Lechku giggled, "A few more attacks and you're done for, Shadowchaser!"

"Down to the final stretch all right…" Damian said, picking himself up. "but I'll make sure you're the one going down! Now let's move this along!"

Lechku narrowed his eyes from under his mask and slipped a card into his disk. "Kk-kk…I'll set one card facedown, and end my turn…"

Damian drew his card and smirked. Gesturing, Dark Valkyria began to vanish into random pixels from the feet up, disappearing from sight, Damian declaring, "I sacrifice my monster to summon my favorite monster, Darklord Zerato!"

The massive, dark fairy appeared in front of him, cackling almost insanely as he lfited up his massive, jagged blade, a bolt of black lightning striking down behind him. (2800/2300)

_It's fun to break physics…_ Damian chuckled to himself, holding up a card and flipping it around t show Dark Nephtys. "I'll play Darklord Zerato's effect, by discarding a card in my hand, I can annihilate every monster on your side of the field!" Damian pointed dramatically forward, "Attack with Blasphemous Eruption!"

Darklord Zerato cackled as a dark energy shrouded his sword, and a single black bolt of lightning struck down, striking the Falchion Beta monster and blowing it to smithereens.

"Now attack him directly and end this damn thing!" Damian shouted as Darklord Zerato cackled again, and flew forward at Lechku, his sword pointing at his chest…

Before the dark fairy slammed face first into the glowing energy shield that was created by the Negate Attack that Lechku activated. The dark fairy, growling, floated back to Damian's field.

…_Well there goes that little moment of awesome…_Damian said, pointing to his own facedown card, "I'll play Interdimensional Matter Transporter, which will remove my monster from play until the end phase of my turn, which will protect my monster from it's own effect." Darklord Zerato rippled out of existence. "To end my turn, I'll set one card facedown." A facedown card appeared in front of him, and Zerato appeared in front of him again.

Lechku drew his card, and stared at it for a moment. A grin appeared behind his mask, and he cackled loudly, echoing in the space around the two of them. "Kk-kk, now begins your DOWNFALL Shadowchaser! I now have everything in my hand to destroy you! I begin by playing the spell card, Emergency Cyber, which allows me to add a high level "cyber" monster from my deck to my hand!"

A card jutted out, and he greedily grasped it in his taloned claw. Damian was frowning. _Cyber monster? But what could he summon…?_

"Now I remove from play all of my machine type monsters from play…" All ten of his monsters began to rapidly eject form his graveyard, "and summon the greatest monster in my deck!"

A heavy rumbling was felt between the two of them as something…_big_ was beginning to form the two of them, something of massive sized, bigger than anything Damian had summoned. When it finally formed, Damian's eyes widened in surprise.

It looked like a cross between a giant space ship and the well known Cyber Dragon. A massive battle ship that had at least ten Cyber Dragon heads sticking out of either side, each of them letting out a single, mehachnical roar. (?/?)

"CYBER ELTANIN!" He shrieked in joy as Damian took a step back. "Kk-kk, his attack score is de termined by the amount of Light monsters I removed from play in order to summon it, and I removed ten!" The massive machine began to glow. Damian barely noticed the blast of Cyber Summon Blaster hitting him in the chest. (5000/5000)

"What makes my beast especially fearsome is the ability to send every monster in your control to the graveyard! You better plug your ears, Shadowchaser, kk-kk!" All ten mouths of the massive space ship began to glow. Damian's eyes widened, and he held his hand hands over his ears…

The next he heard a tremendous BOOM! on his side of his field, taking everything in his power not to get knocked over. When the dust settled, Damian opened his eyes and saw that what was left of Darklord Zerato was a smudge on the ground.

"Cyber Eltanin, attack him directly and END HIM!" Lechku shouted as Cyber Eltanin began to charge up another blast, all of their mouths open. The blast was fired, combining to a single beam toward Damian…

Damian's eyes widened and he gestured quickly. Once the beam was close to striking him, it suddenly split apart into several different directions as Necro Gardna appeared in front of Damian, catching the blast again, much to Lechku's horror.

The owl demon let out a loud shriek of anger, throwing his feet on the ground. "WHY WON'T YOU JUST DIE?!"

"Because I'm just that cool to not lose?" Damian asked, grinning nervously as his heart beat to a rapid tune in his chest, paler than he was used to. _Okay heart, resume beating, I had this under control from the start…_

"You're on your final stand, Shadowchaser! I have a monster I've added to my deck specifically for picking apart your Shadowchaser brethren! A mighty monster with the greatest power ever: The ability to cripple even Yusei's legendary Stardust Dragon!"

Damian stared at him for a moment, before he cocked an eyebrow. "You…" he said slowly, "you're using this monster just because you think it'll take down Yusei's Stardust Dragon?"

"Once I defeat that urchin, Yusei Fudo, and bring his rarest card to my mistress, she shall how useful I can be, when I bring her the most coveted wind monster in the game!"

"Buddy…" Damian said slowly, "If you somehow, on the off chance, DO defeat his Stardust Dragon, Yusei can come back and combo you out of a job, what with his synchro monsters and send you crying to your mistress or whatever it is you're working for…"

"We'll see about that, Shadowchaser, and I'll start by putting you on my wall of defeated duelists! Now take your turn, let's wrap this up!"

**(Damian: 400) - - - - - - - (Lechku: 2600)**

Damian drew his card slowly and held it up to his own face, praying for something that could help. _If there is a heart of the cards, I may not believe in you but this one time would be a good time to make me a believer…_

He opened his eye slowly, and he cocked an eyebrow at the strange art on the card. "What…the…"

He paused for a long moment, inspecting the other cards in his hand. A plan began to form…and he grinned a little bit.

"Well…" Damian said as he pointed to his facedown, "I'll first play the trap card, Peace Treaty. Now both of us are allowed to add any card we want from our graveyard to our hand, at the cost of not summoning it if it's a monster."

A card jutted out of their decks. Damian looked at his Dark Nephtys, and Lechku looked at his final copy of Honest. The Owl demon grinned a little bit.

"I'll continue with my turn and summon the monster, Dark Bug," Damian said. The strange, tetris block like insect appeared in front of him. (100/100). "And since I summoned him, I can summon a Level three tuner monster from my graveyard." Dark Resonator appeared, crouching down in defense mode, beating on his little tuning fork every now and again. (1300/300)

"Then, I'll discard my Dark Nephtys to Special Summon Dark Grepher in attack mode." He discarded the card he'd just gotten and the Dark Warrior appeared in front of him, swinging his sword and grinning a devious grin on his face. (1700/1600)

"Now for the big finale, I'll tune all of my monsters together!" The Dark Resonator grinned a little bit and banged on his tuning fork hard. After that, he burst into three rings which flew into the air, Dark Grepher and Dark Bug flew up in between all of them.

Finally, they all burst into a total off eight stars, which landed again to form into the armored, glowing, Jalal the Dragonborn. (2600/2000)

Lechku chuckled a little bit. "Kk-kk, foolish Shadowchaser, your boss cannot save you from your moment of downfall! There's not a spell or trap in either of our graveyards that could possibly be a Benefit!"

"I know…" Damian grinned as he held up the final card in his hand. "I've got one right here, and oldie but a goodie, I play the Spell Card, The Pillager!"

The Spell card appeared on the field, revealing a shady looking man with a burlap sack over his shoulder, reaching for the player. Lechku's eyes widened behind his mask. "W-What?!"

"Now here's how this is going to work, you show me every card in your hand and I get to pick which one I get to snatch!"

Lechku shrieked in surprise as his cards appeared in his hand. Damian didn't even care about the rest of the cards he saw, he had eyes on only one of them, which he pointed to. "I'll gladly take your Honest!"

Lechku dropped to his knees as his card was forcefully ripped from his hand and flew into Damian's hand. Grinning to himself, he let out a sigh. "Now let me show you how a card like Honest should really be used! Jalal, attack that giant eyesore!"

Jalal brandished his sword, glaring at the giant dragon like machine. He jumped into the air and flew at the monster. Suddenly, Honest appeared behind Jalal, who gripped his shoulders suddenly and melded into his body. Jalal began to glow with a blinding light, and his attack suddenly shot up to 7600!

Jalal swung his sword once at the massive machine, and it seemed as though nothing happened until a glowing light appeared, going diagonal of the massive ships larger face. It split apart, and violently exploded into scraps of metal and pixels.

Jalal landed back onto Damian's side of the field and looked back at him. He smiled a little and nodded.

**(Damian: 400) - - - - - - - (Lechku: 0)**

"Well…" Damian sighed a little bit, the images around them vanishing and returning them to the darkened street from before. "While that was a damn good duel, but I think it's about time we rap this up, huh? Now just put your hands up quietly and…"

He paused and sighed when he saw how Lechku grabbed the drill launchers handles, aiming them both at Damian.

"Of course you're going to fight, I can't believe I was surprised." Damian sighed, slumping over.

"Kk-kk, I will not let a loss be marked against me, Shadowchaser! I shall merely take you into my mistress, that shall be enough for-"

CLANK!

Lechku was silent for a moment or two before he suddenly fell face first on the concrete. Glitch was standing behind Lechku, hit teeth grit tight as he held a pipe in his hand.

"Lousy, frigging birds…" He growled as he kicked the down body of Lechku.

Damian blinked in surprise. "Glitch, you…saved me?"

"Hey, I do it out of character, just because I'm a gremlin, doesn't mean I can't have my moments of awesome, ya know…" He dropped the lead pipe an grabbed Lechku's deck, shuffling through it. "Wow, the Honest cards…" He pulled out the copy Lechku had left, Damian had the other. "Can you imagine the pretty penny THESE would get?"

"I'll take that." Damian snatched the card out of his hands and held it up to the light. With a frown, he shook his head. "Yep, counterfeit. Whatever 14's doing right now, he better hurry, these guys are getting fast…Oh, by the way, Glitch…" He reached down and pulled out the Pillager card. "What I wanna know is how you got a card THIS rare…"

"THAT rare?" Glitch grinned in pride, hitting himself on the chest. "You wanna know how I got it? It wasn't easy, I'm gonna tell you that! You have any idea how hard it was to find Keith's cards after he seemed to drop off the face of the planet?"

"Keith's cards? Huh?" Damian blinked.

"Yeah, kid! That card you're holding in your hand right now is the card Bandit Keith used in his duel with Wheeler at Duelist Kingdom! You don't get much rarer than that!"

Damian let the fact sink in for a moment before he cringed, dropped he card and suddenly wiped his hand on his pants. "You mean I used a card that BANDIT KEITH used? Gah!" He shuddered hard, shaking his head and spitting out his tooth pick. "I suddenly feel like I need a shower…" He paused and looked down at Glitch. "Glitch, I don't remember that being part of the deal…"

Glitch grinned nervously and rubbed the back of his head. "See, thing about that. Once people I'm sure hear about me having that card, I'm sure some people will…" he cleared his throat. "Do desperate things to get it, and I figured, hey, a Shadowchaser like you can fend for himself if I gave you that card!"

"Look, despite the fact I should kill you for even considering putting my life on the risk just to save YOUR neck…" Damian growled, holding up the card, "I refuse to use a broken card like this again. So good luck trying to get rid of it."

Glitch frowned a little bit and grumbled under his breath. He was holding Lechku's deck in his hand as he began to look through them. "So what are you gonna do now, kid?" Glitch asked as he was looking for additional cards he could snatch for selling purposes of lechku's deck.

"Well get this guy taken care of…" He said, looking at Lechku. "Then I'm gonna go back to figuring out what the hell Vlad's planning…" He frowned a little, and blinked. "Wait…" He said. "If Lechku attacked me…could anyone else be attacked?" He pulled out his cell phone and dialed.

"Come on Jerian, pick up…" He whispered a little bit. He got a busy signal and growled, shutting it. "Dammit, he's busy…I hope."

"There are two types of people in this world, buddy…' Came a voice from the top of the rooftops. "Those who know, and those who're just too dumb to teach."

Damian and Glitch both up where the voice was coming from. Standing there, grinning was a pure black being was seen just above the two. He wore no shirt, so his black chest with the purple runes running down it. On his chest was a glowing purple 'J'. On top of the beings head was what appeared to be a police cap, with long black hair that laid out behind it.

"I like to think you Shadowchasers are the second."

"Dammit, again?!" Glitch shouted. "Look, kid, all of this stress isn't good for my heart! You're on your own, good luck kid!" He shouted as he dashed back down the corner, disappearing into the darknes…again.

"Who do YOU think you are?" Damian asked the strange looking being.

The creature chuckled a little bit and hopped down to the ground, hitting the ground with a loud _boom_ right in front of Damian, adjusting his cap and making sure it was on straight. He looked over at Damian, his arms crossed behind his back.

"Why do ducks have flat feet?"

"I-" Damian paused. "…Wait…huh?"

"Why do ducks have flat feet?"

"…What….are you talking about?"

"To stamp out fires! Now, why do ELEPHANTS have flat feet?"

"…"

"To stamp out burning ducks!" The being began to laugh uproariously, slapping his knee.

Damian stared at him for a moment, his face totally dead pan. "That was the worst joke I've ever heard."

"Give it time, Damian, I've got a MILLION." The being chuckled a little bit, grinning at the serious face of the Shadowchasers.

"How do you know my name?" Damian asked, reaching down to his sword handle and glared at him. "And frankly, what's keeping me from cutting you in two?"

"Because I have all the information you need to know about what my boss is planning," He said with a shrug.

Damian blinked and quickly rushed over to him. "You know what he's planning? Tell me!" He reached over to grab the being and hopefully get an answer out of him.

"First of all, the name's Joker, kid, and I don't like being touched." He hopped back to avoid his grasp and giggled a little bit. "Two kinds of people in the world, Shadowchaser." He held up two fingers to emphasis this. "People who are willing to go to great lengths to get what they want to know…"

He snapped his fingers, and suddenly a D-Wheel appeared behind him in a burst of colorful purple smoke. He grinned and backed up toward it.

"And people who are willing to wait and wait for days on end and hope to have their answers dropped into their laps…" He hopped onto his bike. "Now let's see how willing you are to get what you're looking for!" He revved the engines and laughed. "You're it!" and blasted off.

Damian growled a little bit and rushed back around the corner, hopping onto his D-Wheel that brought him here, his eyes narrowed. _Jerian...Angua…Jess…Scraps…sorry for having to do this…but if we're gonna get ANY kind of lead, I need to do this! Good luck guys!_ He blasted off down the roar toward where Joker was rushing…

…

**Gradius Universe  
Type**: Field Spell  
**Image**: The Gradius monsters flying in an empty, black voice of space.  
**Effect**: All Light-Attribute Machine type monsters with 1200 or less ATK gain 500 ATK. When a Light-Attribute Machine-type monster is destroyed as a result of battle, add a monster of the same name from your deck to your hand.

**Photon Blast  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: Gradius firing a blast of energy at a twin headed behemoth.  
**Effect**: Activate only if you control a face up "Gradius". Destroy one face up monster on the field.

**Dark Gear Golem  
Type**: Machine/Dark/Effect  
**Attack/Defense**: 3000/3000  
**LV**: 8  
**Effect**: If this card is in your graveyard, by discarding DARK-Attribute monsters whose combined Level is equal to or higher than this monsters Level, you can Special Summon this card. Any battle damage this card inflicted to your opponent is reduced to 0.

**Dark Baboon  
Type**: Beast/Dark/Effect  
**Attack/Defense**: 2600/1800  
**LV**: 7  
**Effect**: When a DARK-Attribute monster you control is destroyed by a card effect your opponent controls, you can Special Summon this card from your graveyard by removing from play a DARK-Attribute monster in your graveyard.

**Dark Battle Ox  
Type**: Beast-Warrior/Dark/Effect  
**Attack/Defense**: 1700/1000  
**LV**: 4  
**Effect**: As long as this card is on the field, when a DARK-Attribute monster battles an opponents defense position monster whose DEF is lower than the Attacking monsters ATK, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent.

**LEV Transformation  
Type**: Spell/Equip  
**Image**: Gradius with several lasers and cannons appearing all over it's body.  
**Effect**: Equip only to a Light-Attribute Machine-type monster whose original ATK is 1200 or lower. Double the monsters original ATK. If this card is removed from the field, destroy the equipped card.

**Behind Enemy Lines  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: The Gravedigger popping his head out of a hole in the ground in the middle of the Necrovalley  
**Effect**: Select any number of monsters you control. Switch control of the monsters to your opponent. For each card given to your opponent, you gain 300 life Points. Battle Damage done to your opponent during battle with these cards is reduced to 0.

**Heaven's Light Call  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: Spirit of the Harp playing a song to Shining Friendship, Key Mace and Mystical Shine Orb in the middle of the Sanctuary in the Sky  
**Effect**: Discard any number of cards in your hand. Add that many Light-Attribute monsters from your deck to your hand. You cannot summon the selected monsters this turn.

**Dark Shield  
Type**: Trap  
**Image**: Doom Shaman conjuring a shield around several Dark monsters.  
**Effect**: Activate only during the Battle Phase of this turn. Send one Dark-Attribute monster in your deck to the graveyard. Once during this turn, One Dark-Attribute monster you control isn't destroyed in battle. Battle Damage you take this turn from battle with the selected monster is reduced by half. At the end of the damage step, draw one card.

**Peace Treaty  
Type**: Trap  
**Image**: Dark Ruler Ha Des and Dark King of the Abyss glaring hatefully at each other, with a parchment of paper between the two with bold letters in fancy cursive saying PEACE TREATY  
**Effect**: Both players Select one card in their graveyard and add it to their hand. If the added card was a monster, it cannot be summoned this turn. If the added card is a Spell or Trap card, if it is not activated during this turn, during the end phase, discard your entire hand.

**Dark Wall of Wind  
Type**: Spell/Quick-Play  
**Image**: A black tornado circling a duelist.  
**Effect**: This card can be activated when you control no monsters on the field. During this turn, you take no battle damage or effect damage.

_Note: Dark Wall of Wind was first used by Yami Marik in the anime episode, "The Darkness Returns". All creative credit goes to the writers of that episode._

**Emergency Cyber  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: A black and white picture depicting a falling space craft, with several dragon monsters surrounding it as it crash lands on an island.  
**Effect**: Add one Level 8 or higher "Cyber" monster from your deck to your hand. By discarding one card in your hand, add this card to your hand from your graveyard.

_Note: Emergency Cyber was first used by Ryo Kaiser in the Yu-Gi-Oh GX Manga. All creative credit goes to the writers of that issue._

**The Pillager  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: a grimy looking man with a sack thrown over his shoulder, reaching for the duelist.  
**Effect**: Look at your opponent's hand. Select one card in your opponents hand and add it to yours.

_Note: The Pillager was first used by Bandit Keith in the anime Episode "Keith's Machinations". All creative credit goes to the writers of that episode._

…

What is Joker's motive? Where has Damian gone? Can he possibly find out what Vlad's up to? That's a tale for another time…stay tuned for Lux-Nero's fic for all the answers.

Jerian has his own hands full with the big lady herself, Akoku. Just what is this mysterious woman's motive, and can she possibly beat Jerian? Find out next time in "Whirlwind Prodigy", coming soon.


	16. Whirlwind Prodigy

Disclaimer: I do not own the Yu-Gi-Oh Franchise, nor do I intend to make money from it. I do not own the Shadowchasers, that belongs to Cybercommander. Any characters you see belong to me.

…

_There are times when I think that the Shadowchaser business may be more…excitement than I had expected of it_. The blind samurai Shadowchaser thought to himself as his D-Wheel as he drove down the otherwise busy street. _Of course, I knew what I was getting into when I joined the Shadowchasers to begin with…I wasn't expecting a desk job that was for sure._

A hard turn to the left as he casually drove down the otherwise busy street, hearing the hustle and the bustle of the Las Angeles, based solely on the talking of people on their cell phones or the children asking their mothers if they could get ice cream before they went back home. Jerian smiled a little, sometimes this job was worth it to keep this kind of life style present.

As he drove lazily down the road, hearing the whispers of his many fans point him out, a few children calling out for his name to get his attention, crying out at how cool they thought he was. Smiling further, he lifted a hand to where he heard the voices and, getting the chance, drove off.

_I suppose if I have a some down time from this Sons of Tyranny bit…_He thought to himself. _I can go get ready for the next tournament, it's getting closer to the next one of course. Now I'm just rambling…I need to get back home, maybe Damian is-_

Suddenly he paused in front of an alley way, gripping his handle bars tightly, the D-Wheel revving, purring gently as Jerian concentrated hard. "Who's there?" He finally called out to the alley, hearing his own voice echo back very gently. HE frowned a little, preparing to drive off, sure he had simply heard something…

When suddenly he turned around, his sword grasped tightly in his hand and held it in front of him. It clashed with another sword that was aimed at his head, the blind samurai frowning heavily before he pushed the blade and the assailant away from him. The black clad figure flipped through the air and landed on his feet, spinning whatever was in his hand around and around, the wind whistling as he did this.

Whoever it was, it was a very muscular man, clad in all form fitting black outfit. His face was concealed behind that of a mask of a snarling dog. Jerian hopped off of his D-Wheel and kept his sword aloft.

"You realize that you're going to have to do a lot better than that if you're going to kill someone like me," Jerian challenged as he slowly circled the Chain Sickle wielding man, spinning his blade about. "I don't think there's a person out there that can sneak up on me. Now out with it, what is it you want?"

"Relax, Shadowchaser," The larger being grumbled as he watched him calmly. His Chain Sickle spun still, whipping the air around him, "I mean no harm, I have no need to fight you."

"You have no need to harm me, and you don't want to fight," Jerian echoed, "I would have believed that if your first action against me wasn't trying to carve my head off with your weapon. Now state your business with me so I can be on my way." He pointed his sword at him.

The masked man chuckled sinisterly and shook his head, he stopped the spinning of his blade. "Please my friend, that was merely to get your attention of course. What I have isn't a motion of violence, but rather a declaration."

Several people had now gathered around the two circling opponents, Jerian frowned. _This is bad, if he tries to harm anyone…_

"What's going on?" One of the women whispered to another. "Is Jerian really going to fight this guy?"

"No way!" Shouted her child, pulling on his mothers dress, "This is something having to do with his duel, I just know it!"

Jerian let out a little sigh. _Thank god for having a gullible fanbase…_

"I have been sent here to deliver a message," the masked man repeated before he stopped swinging his blade again, "My mistress wishes to speak to you, face to face."

"Your mistress?"

"Meet her here within the next hour." He threw him a small, folded up piece of paper which Jerian clumsily caught, having not expected it at the moment. "If you have honor, you will meet her there. If not…" He shook his head. "Well I have no pity for what fate comes to your friends."

With that, the dog masked man leapt high into the air, making the entire group of spectators gasp as he leapt onto a building, remained there for a moment before he leapt away into the knight.

Jerian was stunned for a little bit. For the first time in a while, he wasn't stopped to begin a battle of swords, he was told to go somewhere. He couldn't remember the last time that was, but it wasn't recently that was for damn sure.

"Mister Jerian…' One of his timid fans asked quietly as he approached the blind samurai duelist, looking up at him expectedly. "What does it say? Is it a challenge or something having to do with your upcoming match?"

Jerian never did enjoy the idea of using his matches as little more than fictional sitcoms but for his fans he tried to please them. He began to unfold his thrown piece of paper and dragged his hand against the paper a few times before he frowned.

_Well at least they were kind enough to make it easier with the Braille…_ he thought to himself.

…

"So…" Jerian said to himself as he dismounted his D-Wheel and pulled his helmet off, looking up at the massive abandoned building he'd been addressed to come to. "I suppose if I'm going to fall into a trap, this would be the most prominent place…"

He walked over to the door and pressed a hand against it, pushing it open with a low creaking noise. Almost immediately as he took a step in, he knew he was not alone.

Almost immediately, he pulled out his sword and got into his fighting stance, frowning heavily. "I know you're all there," he said out to the seemingly empty room, his concentration focused intensely on the room in front of him.

Suddenly, several forms dropped down from the ceiling, hitting the ground with almost no sound whatsoever. They were all black clad beings, holding up weapons of several varieties. Jerian frowned and grit his teeth.

_Should have guessed…it's a trap all right…well, I need some practice anyway!_

He was preparing to swing the first blow…

"Enough!" A female voice called out, as one the gathered assassins and warriors lowered their weapons. Near the back of their ranks they began to part and get down on one knee bowing their heads to the figure that walked towards Jerian.

It was almost a shame Jerian was blind, the woman was stunningly beautiful. Dressed in a lavish powdered green jade kimono with fair skin and long black hair that was clearly treated with utmost care. To an Aware however more threatening aspects became visible, particularly how her well manicured fingernails were actually enormous hawk like talons.

The end result was a strange hybrid of a Japanese empress and one of Mai Valentine's signature Harpy monsters.

The woman stopped a few feet away from Jerian the two of them staring at one another in silence.

"...Well? Have you the courtesy of a stray mutt? It is customary to show respect for royalty."

Jerian was caught off guard by this. "Oh! *Ahem* my apologies," He said beginning to kneel down as well before, behind his bandages he blinked. "Wait a minute...why am I bowing to a CRIMINAL?"

Ankoku put a hand to her mouth and gave a derisive laugh. "And what a gullible mutt you are, but I will let your insolence slide...this time. After all I did not expect the peasants of this land to know of my name, so heed it well for I shall not repeat myself."

The woman pointed a taloned claw at Jerian. "You are in the presence of none other than I, Ankoku, Bride of the Howling Gale!"

Jerian stood there silently before tilting his head to the side. "Well it certainly sounds impressive, but I'd have a greater reason to be intimidated if I knew what that title actually MEANT."

"Ignorant flea ridden peasants," Ankoku muttered under her breath before giving him an annoyed look.

"But again, why should I be surprised? You Americans live your lives with your heads in the clouds, oblivious to the reality around you as you indulge in pointless luxuries."

"This coming from a woman who looks like she's wearing enough jewelry to fill a Jared's?"

"Hm, well at least you are a dog with a quick tongue." Ankoku said looking somewhat pleased. "Perhaps it wasn't a mistake to seek this meeting, that is if your skill amounts to anything more than your pitiful comrades."

"By 'pitiful comrades" I assume you mean the other Shadowchasers. Which if that's the case means you were likely involved in the murder of at least three of Jalal's best men recently." Jerian said with a scowl.

Ankoku smirked at this. "Alas their deaths were not MY doing. Dear Vladimir decided to make a bit of sport with those fools, would you blame me for how they were too weak to provide him sufficient entertainment?"

_'I'd ask what she meant about providing entertainment but I'm a little more __weirded__ out by why she refers to Vladimir as 'dear''_Jerian thought sweatdropping.

"Entertainment? Is that all we mean to you lot?"

"Of course, what alternative would there be? Surely not the invincible guardians many would claim you to be." Ankoku said giving another laugh.

Even thought it was little more then trash talk Jerian had to admit that last comment stung more then a little. "You talk a good game Anko-ERK!"

In mid sentence Jerian had to draw his sword to block a two handed slash from a masked demon wielding a spear, the blades drawing sparks as they ground against one another.

"You will address out mistress as LADY Ankoku cur, or in her name we will spill Shadowchaser blood tonight!" His assailant snarled as Jerian broke out in a sweat trying to keep the spear from inching any closer to his neck.

_''Kee-RIPES! Again with the total disregard for the Treaty! Who ARE these guys?'_

"Still your blade Hozen," Ankoku commanded the shinobi reluctantly drawing back glaring through his mask at the Shadowchaser as he tried to catch his breath.

"As you can see, if I wanted you dead, your blood would already paint these walls. But I must admit, you have begun to intrigue me Shadowchaser. Your skill, your appearance, they remind me of my homeland. And to see such noble qualities in one of Jalal's trained dogs...most interesting indeed."

"So here is my proposal, Shadowchaser. We shall engage in the form of battle your master seems so fond of, Duel Monsters, and should you convince me you are some manner above the rest of your amateurish comrades, I may be compelled to provide some of the answers you and your comrades seek."

Considering his recent encounter with Glitch Jerian was understandably skeptical. "You expect me to engage someone who is likely associated with the murder of my fellow Shadowchasers for a promise made at face value? An...LADY Ankoku," Jerian said noticing Hozen tighten the grip on his spear.

"Considering I know next to nothing about you is it worthy of contempt for me to be suspicious of your intentions?"

Ankoku stared at him in silence for a long time before nodding her head something close to approval in her eyes. "I suppose not. Very well," She swept her arm out to the side with a flourish her kimono billowing gracefully. "I, Ankoku, seventy second to inherit the title of Bride, swear on the honor of the House of the Howling Gale, that this accord be honored in defiance of even pain of death."

_'Okay...THAT definitely doesn__'__t sound like something you'd say unless you really mean it.'_

Jerian thought before clearing his throat. "Alright then. I, Jerian Ohana, swear by my honor as a Shadowchaser to agree to your terms. I shall not bring any outside interference, even Jalal Stormbringer, until the duel is settled."

"Splendid," Ankoku said clapping her hands. "I believe it will be only fitting to have this battle be a Turbo Duel...unless you wish to engage in a 'Fair Fight' with one of my servants?" She said grinning as every single masked assassin drew their weapons ready to attack.

"Ah...no, no Turbo Duel's fine." Jerian said gulping.

Ankoku nodded her head and turned to face her men, all of whom immediately snapped to attention under her gaze. Her cold eyes focused on the men before he before she pointed to three different men. Almost as if they knew what was to happen, they bowed in respect and jumped to the middle of the room, kneeling down.

Ankoku walked in front of the men and kneeled in return, but it wasn't for honor. Instead, she pressed her taloned hand to the floor and began to mumble under her breath. Finally, after a good few moments of incoherent chatter, the ground suddenly began to glow green with a strange symbol etched into the ground.

A pillar of light shot from the ground, enveloping the three men in the middle of it. They didn't make a noise, they didn't make a sound, and they were evaporated almost instantly. A much larger shape suddenly burst from the ground, letting loose a massive shriek as it freed itself.

The beast was impressively sized, enough for a person to possibly ride on it's back. It was hinted that this was the case, a seat often seen on Elephants was placed on the back. The beast itself looked like a crane, and it's feathers were all emerald green.

Ankoku walked over to the crane like creature, which obediently bowed its head down. Ankoku smiled and stroked her claws through the creatures feathers, causing it to croon gently.

Jerian, however, stood there in stunned horror at the act he'd just seen. Not only did she willingly, and essentially, murder three men, but she did it all in the name of an illegal summoning!

"You just did an illegal summoning of that creature!" Jerian argued. "I can arrest you for that alone!"

"True," Ankoku said, giving him a cold smile, "But even if you have proof I commited such an act, you have given me your word your word of honor that you would abide to my terms until the duel is complete. Or does the word of a Shadowchaser mean nothing?"

Jerian snarled but deep down knew he could not revoke the vow he made, it wasn't just about keeping the honor of the Shadowchasers, but rather his own. "Fine…let's just get this over with." He growled.

Ankoku chuckled coldly and gestured to her bird like demon. The demon in question immediately bowed down on its stomach, allowing Ankoku to make her way towards the seat. Sitting herself down, she looked down at the others and gave them all a curt nod. The assassins nodded in response, and disappeared into the shadows.

Jerian was outside of the building, climbing onto his D-Wheel when the building he was just in suddenly exploded from the inside. The roof erupted out as the massive jade green crane, now carrying Ankoku, took to the air off in a direction.

'_Dammit…_' Jerian thought to himself as he revved his D-Wheel. _'This is going to be a hard one to explain to the populace…how do you explain a massive flying BIRD?_' And finally, he rushed off after Ankoku, his D-Wheel whirring to life.

'_Speed World is now activated.´ _Said a computerized voice as the blue light of Speed World shot up around the two of them.

Ankoku chuckled a little. "Prepare for a swift and painful defeat, Shadowchaser!" She shouted.

**(Jerian: 8000/SC: 0) - - - - - - - (Ankoku: 8000/SC: 0)**

As the massive beast kept the Bride of the Howling Gale in the air, she calmly lifted a hand to the deck that was in the chair with her. "I'll allow myself to go first." She said, "Draw!" She drew her card quickly. Immediately placing another card on the disk, shouting loud enough for her opponent to hear, "I summon Lady Ninja Yae in attack mode!"

A glowing portal appeared in front of Ankoku's crane beast, and from it leapt a woman with tight fitting purple clothing, wielding a sword. With a scowl, she drew her blade. (1100/200)

Sweeping her hand in front of her, two more cards appeared facedown behind the ninja. "By setting these next two cards facedown, my turn concludes."

Jerian silently drew his card, barely acknowledging the fact both of the players Speed Counters had increased by one. Instead, he looked at his new card, looked at the rest of his hand and nodded. "I summon Jain, Lightsworn Paladin in attack mode."

In a flash of glowing light, the armored warrior appeared, holding her blade in front of her. (1800/1200)

"Now I'll have her attack Yae, Lightsworn Slash!" Jain jumped into the air, heading right for the Ninja…

However, Yae reached into her belt and pulled out a fist sized smoke ball. Throwing it in the air it burst (somehow) and filled the air in front of Ankoku's Crane demon. Jain swung her sword, striking nothing but Smoke as a result. Yae, however, was standing several feet off to the side, a smirk on her face.

"You'll have to try harder than that, Shadowchaser," Ankoku sneered, gesturing to her facedown card which flipped up, "Ninja Smoke Ball allows me to negate the attack you sent at my Ninja monster."

"Hmph," Jerian grunted a little. "Fine, since that backfired a little, I'll set these two cards facedown. That ends my turn, meaning I lose two cards from the top of my deck to the graveyard." Looking at them, he smirked, discarded one, and slipped another card into his duel disk. "One of them is a Special Monster that can be summoned like now, Wulf, Lightsworn Beast in attack mode!"

With a loud feral roar, the wolf like Lightsworn beast appeared, hefting up his massive axe over his shoulder. (2100/300)

"Your beasts do not scare me, Shadowchaser," Ankoku said, drawing her card calmly, looking at it with an almost bored expression. "In fact, allow me to show you the benefits of being of royalty: I activate Another Road."

Her other trap card flipped up, while Ankoku reached down and grabbed a card that was jutting out of her deck.

"This card is a must have in any Turbo Deck," She stated. "It allows me to place a Field Spell in my deck under it. As a result, my trap acquires it's effect. In case that was too advanced for you to follow, Shadowchaser, it means I'm allowed to have not only Speed World at my disposal, but my Shinobi Fortress as well. Needless to say, you're in a bad situation."

_A trap that let's you have TWO Field Spells out at once?_ Jerian asked, a frown heavily forming on his mouth. _That's bad…what's worse, I don't know what this one does._

"However, it's effect to me is useless right now. So for now, I shall switch Yae into a defense position, where she's safe. Followed by one facedown card will end my turn." A facedown appeared behind the green haired ninja, who quickly kneeled down into a defense position.

Jerian drew his card, watching his Speed Counters and Ankoku's rise to three each. He placed his new card on his duel disk, making a hard right to avoid crashing into a building. As he passed a group of people, no one seemed to notice the massive bird demon flying above the city at the same time.

"I summon Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner in attack mode." The young girl appeared, holding two glowing orbs of light in her hand. (1000/1000). "now then, I'll be skipping right to the good part, and have Lumina attack your Yae!" Lumina began to charge a glowing ball of light in her hands, combining them above her head. Turning to face the green haired ninja, she threw the crackling energy ball at her.

Suddenly, in another puff of smoke, the ball struck something. However, when it cleared, it wasn't clear space, it was a tree with a worried face on it. Another burst of smoke, Yae was standing right where she was before, a cocky smirk on her face.

"You're going to need to try harder than that, peasant," She remarked, laughing shrilly at Jerian's frustration. "With Ninjitsu Art of Decoy, my monster is completely resilient to all of your battles."

Jerian sighed dejectedly. _That figures, of course it's not THAT easy. Now that damn thing is going to be on the field even longer, I'm going to risk losing my Spells and Traps now…_

"All I can do now is end my turn." He announced. Taking five cards from the top of his deck, he slipped them into his graveyard, reminding himself with ones he had lost for future use.

"My turn," Ankoku blatantly announced. Suddenly, her deck began to shuffle itself before a card jutted out. She calmly reached up and grabbed it. "Very good. Since I control a monster with the word "Ninja" in it's name I'm allowed to add one Normal Trap from my deck to my hand, thanks to my Shinobi Fortress. Then I will summon Ninja Commander Ikusa in attack mode."

Another portal of energy appeared, this one holding a rather stereotypical looking ninja with a helmet over his head, a domino mask over his mouth and a large grappling hook in his right hand. (700/700) Suddenly, another portal opened. From this one emerged another warrior, this one heavily cloaked, his face hidden with a large katana strapped to his back. He curled up tightly in defense mode. (400/400)

"By summoning my Ikusa, I'm allowed to summon his protégée, Ninja Solider Katana from my deck." A card appeared behind Katana. "To end my turn, I'll set this single card facedown. Turn end."

"Draw!" Jerian shouted. At that moment he turned down yet another road, this one thankfully had little to no one else on it. Jerian scowled a little and cursed at his own desire to have a dueling circuit like they did in domino.

He placed a card face down on the disk and another defense position monster appeared beside the other three. "Wulf!" He suddenly shouted, "Attack Ikusa! Lightsworn Swing!"

The wolf-warrior howled loudly and suddenly lunged at the smaller target, his axe held high in the air. With a swing, Ikusa's upper half detached from his bottom half, both of which shattered.

Ankoku didn't react. "Thanks to my trap card, Defense Draw, not only is the damage done to me reduced to zero, but I can draw a card." She did so.

Jerian growled a little bit, gripping his handle bars with a silent rage. _Don't let her get to you…WHY are you acting this way? Rage isn't the way to go right now, especially not now…_

Jerian gestured and Lumina began to charge another beam of energy between her hands. She threw it, string Katana and blowing her apart.

"I'll end my turn, forcing me to discard more cards from my deck." Taking another five cards from his deck, he discarded them quickly.

Ankoku grabbed a card jutting out of her deck. "I'll add this card from my deck to my hand." She looked at the card and grinned very evily. "That's much better. Now for more of my combo to take place, I'll tribute Yae to summon her superior, Ninja Master Shogun!"

Yae dissolved into dust as another Ninjutsu Art of Decoy exploded behind her. In her place was a heavy set man wearing thick red armor like that of a common samurai, wearing a red, grimacing oni-mask over it's face. With a loud shout, he held up his sword. (1600/1600)

Jerian chuckled a little bit. "I don't see why I should be afraid of that. It's too weak to hurt Jain and Wulf."

Ankoku smirked again, once more showing the darkness behind her otherwise beautiful green eyes, and gave a flaunting laugh. "Oh you simple commoner, you surely should know that monsters like Ninja Master Shogun are far more useful than attacking. See, when he's tribute summoned successfully, I'm allowed to summon two more subordinates from my deck. So please give way to Strike Ninja and Goe Goe the Gallant Ninja."

Ninja Master Shogun produced two more smoke bombs from his belt and threw them down on the ground. As the smoke disapated, two new forms were on either side of him. On one side was a man in tight fitting black and gold clothing, a domino mask and wielding a kunai knife in each hand. The other one had spiky black hair that danced in the wind with loose fitting red clothing, carrying in his hand was a very odd looking weapon like a staff. (1700/1200) (1500/1000)

Jerian frowned. _I don't like where this is going…not at ALL…_

"Now that my field is quite adequate, I believe it's time to start my own counter attack. I play Speed Spell – Warrior's Request." The Speed Spell appeared on the field, depicting a small army of Warrior monsters, Freed the Matchless General at the front, holding their swords up and screaming in a charge. "A rather simple, if not potent spell card. It grants my warriors an additional 500 attack points."

The three warriors began to glow with a white aura. Their attacks then all adjusted accordingly. (1600/1600) - (2100/1600) (1700/1200) - (2200/1200) (1500/1000) - (2000/1000)

Ankoku gave yet another flaunting laugh, her talon-like hand in front of her mouth to stifle her giggling. "I find it funny, Shadowchaser. Even with what you would call weak monsters, I can destroy your stronger monsters simply. It just goes to show how much better I am than a common street urchin like yourself." She waved a talon once again, and stated only two words: "Slaughter them!"

The next few moments were rather intense. Strike Ninja threw both of his knives, both of which struck Wulf in the chest. Taking a few steps back, he exploded into pixels. Ninja Master Shogun lifted his larger sword and charged at Jain, swinging it. Jain's face remained frozen in shock as she split in half and exploded into pixels. Goe Goe swung his staff like a baseball bat and struck Lumina in the head, causing her to scream and fly off to the side before exploding into pixels herself. Jerian shouted as the damage finally made it to him, causing his D-Wheel to not only shudder and lose control, but almost slam into a parked car.

He managed to gain control again and grit his teeth. "When exactly did I lose control of the situation?"

**(Jerian: 6400/SC: 5) - - - - - - - (Ankoku: 8000/SC: 6)**

Ankoku took the remaining two cards in her hand and slammed them in. "I set these two cards facedown and end my turn. Oh, and look out for that building you're about to crash into."

"Huh?" Jerian asked before he gasped. Indeed, he was about to crash into a building. Barely managing to turn, he almost slammed into the door in question, gritting his teeth as he dashed down the new street. Ankoku's emerald crane beast was far less subtle, merely using it's entire body to break a few windows, but launched off the side of the building, raining shards of glass down on the street below.

_She's crazy!_ Jerian thought to himself. _If I don't stop her, she could really hurt someone!_ He drew a card and frowned. "I flip my monster facedown, Rinyan, Lightsworn Rouge in attack mode." A small cat like creature appeared, with white, flawless fur and lightning bolt-like ears, wearing gold bangles and jewelry on it's head. (100/100). "Now I get to return one Lightsworn monster in my graveyard to my deck and draw a card."

Taking Lumina, he added it back to his deck, shuffled and drew a card. THIS time he smirked. "Now to clean up the house. I sacrifice Rinyan to summon Celestia, Lightsworn Angel!"

The small cat began to transform until it was nothing but a golden orb of light. Said orb began to morph until it changed into the blue haired fairy, wielding her staff in front of her proudly. (2300/200)

"Now I activate her effect. By discarding the top four cards of my deck to destroy two of yours. Celestia, destroy Goe Goe and Ninja Master Shogun!" Celestia lifted up her staff and shot two burning bolts of light, striking the warriors. With loud screams, they were both reduced to ash.

Though he couldn't see it, he could tell Ankoku wasn't impressed. Growling a little, he pointed to the Strike Ninja still on the field. "Celestia, attack-"

"Hold it right there, Shadowchaser!" Ankoku exclaimed. "I'm playing a few cards. The first card being No NOMI."

The trap flipped up very quickly, depicting a Goblin Calligrapher erasing the text "This card cannot be Special Summoned" from an undefined card.

"Another rare addition to my deck. By paying a small fee of two thousand Life Points, I'm allowed to select one card in my deck that cannot be Special Summoned and negate that one effect. Then, following that, I play Ninjitsu Art of Transformation!"

Strike Ninja suddenly disappeared in a flurry of leaves which seemed to have come from out of no where. His shape began to change behind the veil, and finally a few moments later, a new card appeared where the warrior once was a moment ago. A massive bird like creature, with wings as emerald as her crane creature with gold jewels around its neck. It let loose an echoing shriek. (2700/2000)

_Oh that's just fantastic._ Jerian sighed in his head. _Now I have to deal with Simorgh…but this could be a lot worse I suppose…_He looked at his other cards in his hands, and the single card on his field. _Although I don't have any Spells and Traps to set down, which means I'm in for a lot of pain until I can do just that…_

He was suddenly snapped back to reality to the shrill laugh Ankoku gave again. "Do you not see how I work, street urchin? The very rules of this mindless game bend to my whim if I do desire. I may use my Field Spells effect, and even then I can summon monsters who are forbidden from being Specially Summoned. My influence knows no bounds!"

"There's something about your voice…" Jerian spoke up, heavily frowning. "That makes me want to strike you down right now…"

"Oh, Shadowchaser." Teased his opponent, "Calm yourself, wouldn't that hurt your…honor, was it?" Another shrill, taunting laugh came from her seated box, which resulted in the crane monster to let out a shriek, obviously attempting to mimic it's masters laughter.

Jerian gripped a tight fist and took a deep, shuddering breath. _Don't lose your temper, Jerian…that's exactly what she wants._ "Fine…I have no choice but to end my turn…"

"Don't forget about my precious Simorgh's effect!" Ankoku shrieked, waving a hand to the massive emerald bird, "Since you control only one Spell/Trap on the field, you lose 500 Life Points!"

Jerian grunted as piercing winds, like that of razor blades, struck his duel disk, causing him to lose control for a moment. He managed to get said control back and shoot down another deserted street, hearing a soft voice tell him they were about to reach the city limits.

_Thank god.._he thought, _That means we won't be putting anyone else in potential danger…_

"It's my turn, draw!" Ankoku drew her card swiftly and smirked at it. _There it is…one more piece to my ultimate combo…_"I set one card facedown, and have Simorgh attack your Celestia!" Simorgh turned in mid air to face the fairy-like Lightsworn monster. Flapping it's wings, it began to shoot several blade like blasts of wind at her…

Before Jerian shouted out, pointing to his facedown, "I play Lightsworn Barrier!" A glass shield suddenly surrounded Celestia, "By discarding two cards from the top of my deck, your attack is negated and Celestia is saved!" The glass orb surrounding Celestia shuddered, but did not break, calming her.

Ankoku, however, smirked. "Tell me Shadowchaser, was there a reason you decided to save this monster instead of the others that I slaughtered mercilessly in the previous turns? Is it that this one has a Special Connection to you, or is it the fact that I managed to distract you?" Another giggle, she leaned on her taloned hand and stuck her head out the side of her dueling box to see Jerian all the way down to the ground, "I really would like to know."

Jerian didn't answer, instead keeping his head looking straight down the road.

"Hm, I thought so. Oh well, I'll just end my turn then. Which means more damage for you…" Jerian grunted loudly as more of the emerald birds winds struck him, making him wobble a little more.

**(Jerian: 5400/SC:7) - - - - - - - (Ankoku: 6000/SC: 8)**

_I need to get rid of Simorgh right now, otherwise I'm not going to last much longer!_ He drew his card, and smiled. "Heh…I should have known you wouldn't give up on me so soon…I summon Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress in attack mode!"

The sorceress appeared before the blind samurai, holding her staff up with her eyes closed. (1700/200)

"Now I use her effect to switch her into defense position and destroy your Ninjitsu Art of Transformation and your Simorgh! Say goodbye to it!" Lyla kneeled down and aimed her staff at the trap card in question. As the beam struck it, a large explosion erupted from the base of the card, covering Ankoku's field in dust.

When it cleared, however, not only was the trap still there, totally unscathed, but so was Simorgh, who looked a little pissed off…as pissed off as a bird could be, actually.

"What…?" Jerian asked in shock. He then noticed the newly activated trap card Ankoku had activated, then groaned. "Imperial Custom…"

"A useful little trap for the duelist who wishes to use numerous Trap cards." Ankoku smirked, "So it looks like your effort was wasted."

Jerian couldn't help himself and hit his Duel Disk portion of his D-Wheel in exasperation. "Fine!" He suddenly shouted out, "I have no other choice but to end my turn!" He barely felt the razor like winds striking his body.

"Losing your patience, are we?" Ankoku taunted, cackling shrilly and drawing her card. "Beautiful! It's good to see even someone like a common street rat with honor can be pushed over the edge! I play Speed Spell – Broken Barrier! Since I have more than six Speed Counters, my attacks can't be negated!"

Jerian's eyes widened in surprise behind his wrappings around his head, despite the fact they were useless. "So…that means…"

Ankoku gave a wicked smirk. "Celestia DIES!" Simorgh began to beat it's wings once again, which tore apart the all ready crumbling glass orb concealing the Lightsworn Angel and struck her. Celestia screamed in pain before she exploded into pixels.

**(Jerian: 4500/SC: 9) - - - - - - - (Ankoku: 6000/SC: 10)**

"Fitting, isn't it?" Ankoku asked, "That despite your best efforts and defenses, your monsters will still fall under my wrath, it's almost symbolic."

Jerian, however, said nothing, a heavy scowl crossing over his face. "Just end your turn." He said, his voice a deep growl at this point.

Ankoku picked up on this, and gave another chuckle. Nodding, she leaned back in her seat. "I end my turn, Shadowchaser. Keep in mind that once again you're struck with damage."

Jerian growled and drew his card, ignoring the damage he had just taken from the massive bird. Looking at it, he gave another heavy sigh. "Thank heavens…I set one card facedown and end my turn."

"Hmph," Ankoku said, sneering as she idly drew her card. "So you managed to avoid the damage my monster would have given to you. Very good." She looked at her drawn card. "With twelve Speed Counters, I'm allowed to activate Speed Spell – Accelerator Draw, giving me two cards." She drew another two cards, and she giggled a little bit. ""Prepare to meet one who reigns supreme over air and shadow! I remove a beast of darkness and a beast from wind,"

Suddenly something from a distant conversation came back to Jerian. Damian had once mentioned a creature that could be summoned this way, one of the only Dark counterparts in the game he had refused to put in his deck because of its overwhelming power...

"To summon Dark Simorgh!" Ankoku declared slapping a card down. What emerged from the portal was clearly some fiendish twin of the Bird of Divninty, instead of jade green its wings were gunmetal gray and its jewels shone with a glossy black gleam. It flew in formation alongside its twin behind Ankoku's mount as it gave a shrill cry. (2700/2000)

Jerian's eyes widened in surprise once again behind his bandages, and he braced himself. _All I have left is my Lightsworn Barrier…I have to pray it holds_... He looked at his deck. _And with a deck of only 9 cards left in my deck, I won't last much longer…_

"But don't think I'm done yet, Shadowchaser." Ankoku chuckled. "To truly finish my combo, I shall summon Spell Ninja." Whatever happened to this ninja was confusing, for it was very…colorful, compared to what Ninjas were most known for. Half of its clothing was bright green, while the other was purple. It's in hand was a large sword, and two Japanese spells on his hand. (1600/1200)

_What the…_

"Attack his remaining monster, Spell Ninja! Magical Strike!" Spell Ninja disappeared in a blur of purple and green, only to appear behind Lyla and lifted her sword up before it collided with the glass spear, knocking it back. However, as a result, it pulled one of it's spell tags from it's belt and held it up. "Now my monsters effect activates! Once my monster has it's attack negated, I can destroy a Spell or trap on the field! So while Imperial Custom is on the field, your Barrier is untouchable. However, the same cannot be said for your facedown card!"

Spell Ninja shot the tag at the facedown card. Jumping away, the trap exploded, and Jerian gasped, holding his hand up as his trap was blown to bits.

"Now both of my Simorghs will attack as well!" Both of the birds turned in mid air and beat their wings, forming the green and black winds that struck Lyla. Once more, her glass orb shuddered under the pressure, but didn't budge otherwise.

Jerian grimaced as he discarded four more cards, running lower and lower it seemed. However, he didn't seem all that nervous,l especially since that Ninja destroyed his facedown card…

Ankoku chuckled. "I end my turn, Shadowchaser. Since you only have one trap on the field now, you lose 500 Life Points. Not only that, you're stuck between a rock and a hard place. Not only are you running lower and lower on cards to draw, but with my Dark Simorgh combo, you're severely limited on what you could do. Dark Simorgh keeps you from setting cards, period, Simorgh will constantly cut at your own Life Points, and your own monsters will mill at your all ready waning deck. So what will you do-" She shrieked along with her steed as a blinding explosion erupted from Jerian's D-Wheel. "What sorcery is this?"

Jerian chuckled a little bit as the images of Lumina, Jain, Gargoth, Rinyan, Shire, Ehren, and Gragonith appeared behind him, shrouded in shadow. Turning into orbs of light, they all shot back into his deck.

"What did you just do?" Ankoku demanded, her talons digging deep cuts into her chair.

"Oh, it's not what I did, it's what _you _did. That facedown your ninja destroyed was something called Lightsworn Detonation, which, when destroyed by my opponent, I can select one face up monster on the field and return that many Lightsworn monsters in my graveyard back to my deck. So I decided to pick your giant eyesore of a bird and benefit a little bit more, sounds like a plan, eh?"

Ankoku snarled a little bit, but nodded. "Very well. It still won't matter, as I'm still further ahead in life points and deck. Just continued."

Jerian drew his card.

**(Jerian: 3500/SC: 12) - - - - - - - (Ankoku: 6000/SC: 12)**

Jerian chuckled as he added the new card to his hand. "Well, while I can't set, I guess I'll need to just need to use outright force, yeah? I tribute Lyla for Gragonith, Lightsworn Dragon!"

Lyla vanished into pixels and in her place appeared the elaborately decorated dragon. Letting loose a roar, the after images of a second Jain, Ryko, Jenis, Wulf and Aurkus appeared before being absorbed into him. The dragon roared even loudly. (2000/1600) - (3500/3100)

Ankoku snarled and scowled angrily. Her three monsters visibly cringed.

Jerian waved his hand and shouted out, "Gragonith, attack her regular Simorgh with Baptist Breath!"

The Dragon reared its head back, gathering a ball of light in front of its maw. Snapping the head forward, it fired the massive beam and struck the emerald bird. Letting out a shriek, it exploded into pixels. Ankoku grit her teeth as her ride shuddered under the light, but kept flying, having to land on the roof of a nearby building and needing to take a running start, before leaping back into the air.

**(Jerian: 3500/SC: 12) - - - - - - - (Ankoku: 5500/SC: 12)**

Jerian smirked a little bit and discarded three cards. Seeing they were Shire, Rinyan and Ehren, the after images appeared and were absorbed into the dragon, which then rose to 4400 attack points.

Ankoku, if she did seem at ALL angry, didn't show it. Rather, she held a hand in front of her deck and gestured. "I'll use m Shinobi's fortress effect to add one Ninja monster from my deck to my hand." The card appeared in her hand and she added it to her gauntlet. "I'll end my turn as a result."

"You're going to wish I didn't say that." He grinned, his cockiness reviving itself it seemed. He drew a card and ignored it entirely, before pointing at the dark version of the bird and declared an attack again. Another beam of light erupted from the dragon and struck the bird, blowing it to pieces. Her speed counters affected, her bird creature began to slow down, despite its best efforts.

**(Jerian: 3500/SC: 12) - - - - - - - (Ankoku: 3800/SC: 11)**

"It looks like we're almost tied now." Jerian taunted a little himself. "What was that about you being so much better than me?" He asked, smirking. He took the card he just drew and slipped it in. "I end my turn with this facedown." Discarding the next three cards, he noticed they were Lumina, Gargoth and Judgement Dragon, he discarded them as his Dragon rose to 5000.

Ankoku didn't comment on this immediately, she merely drew a card. "Hm, while it is quite the predicament, it's nothing I can't handle. First I play Speed Spell – Shift Down. By dropping six of my Speed Counters, I can draw twice." She suddenly lost much distance between herself and Jerian, as her Speed Spells plummeted to six, and she drew two cards.

"Now I summon a second Strike Ninja." The black and gold clad warrior appeared, running along side the Spell Ninja. "Now since I control two Ninja monsters I'm allowed to summon their true boss, Ninja Grand Boss!"

Another great fanfare came as both of the Ninja's kneeled down as a large cloud of purple smoke appeared. A being stepped from the smoke, arms crossed. He looked similar to Ninja Master Shogun, but his clothing was far more elaborate, his mask was fiercer, and his sword was a great deal larger. He grabbed the handle and lifted it up effortlessly, growling a little. (2000/2000)

"Now while he's on the field, my Ninja monsters get an additional 500 Attack points while on the field." It was true. The other three Ninjas rose to 2100, 2200 and 2500 respectively.

Jerian frowned. "Well that's all well and good, but-"

"Yes, your dragon is stronger, there is no question. That's why I must negate it's effect." She took the last card and played it, "I play Speed Spell – Broken Muffler. By removing any number of Speed Spells I have, one monster with the same level has its effect negated."

She dropped almost entirely behind , and six blasts of energy struck the dragon. The dragon moaned loudly in pain and slumped over further, falling back to 2000 Attack points. Before Jerian could exclaim, he discarded the last two cards of his deck as the massive sword of Ninja Grand Boss swung his sword. THIS time the sword shattered the glass orb.

Jerian grunted loudly as first Strike Ninja struck and drove several shuriken at the dragon, blowing it to pieces. Spell Ninja leapt forward and struck Jerian across the face. He cried out as his D-Wheel spun around, almost wiping out entirely. Thankfully, he caught himself in time. Catching his breath, he waved his hand. "I play…Transmigration Prophecy. Returning…two cards in my grave to the deck." He returned the two cards to his deck.

Ankoku cackled shrilly. "You poor fool…you're down to your last two cards. There's no way you can win now…"

**(Jerian: 1200/SC: 10) - - - - - - - (Ankoku: 3800/SC: 0)**

Jerian drew his card and bit his lip. _It all comes down to this…This next card better be the one I need…_He tilted the card, and a small smile crossed his face. _Thank you…_

He placed the card on his field, and after a massive flash of bright light, which blinded the three warriors and Ankoku's crane creature. From the massive orb of light appeared the massive wise dragon, which illuminated the area for a good mile and then some. Judgment Dragon has awoken. (3000/2800)

Jerian chuckled as Ankoku merely snarled, clenching her talons even tighter. "I use my Dragon's effect! Judgment Call!" Judgment Dragon began to glow again, until it became much too intense for Ankoku and her monsters. With loud screams of pain, all three monsters and Imperial Judgment exploded into pixels, leaving Ninjitsu Art of T ransformation, Another Road and Lightsworn Barrier on the field. Ankoku was bare.

"Now to make sure I finish you off, I play Speed Spell – Rapid Shotwing! Now my monster gains 100 attack points for every Speed Counter I have!" The Judgment Dragon rose to 4100 attack, and it let loose another echoing roar. Ankoku merely closed her eyes and leaned back in her seat, sighing softly.

"This'll teach you not to mess with the Shadowchasers! Light of the Lords!" Judgment Dragon turned to face Ankoku and her bird, before shooting a beam of pure light at them. The demon shrieked loud, but Ankoku barely reacted as the light washed over her.

**(Jerian: 200/SC: 11) - - - - - - - (Ankoku: 0/SC: 0)**

Jerian pulled to a screeching halt as Ankoku landed off to the side, near where Jerian stopped.

The crane demon gave a mournful cry as it settled down to land, glaring angrily at Jerian as he pulled up alongside it. Ankoku stepped down her expression unreadable.

"So...you have bested me after all."

"It would seem that way yes," Jerian said getting off of his D-Wheel. "Perhaps now I've proven to be more then just some peasant lackey?"

Ankoku stared at him in silence before nodding. "Hmm, you DO possess some potential. Very well," She took out her deck and fanned through it before suddenly throwing a card at Jerian.

The Shadowchaser snatched it out of the air, he concentrated for a moment before his expression registered surprise, it was Ankoku's Another Road trap card. "What's this?"

"Consider it a reward, I am not easily impressed Shadowchaser, but it is refreshing to now you are not all the worthless dregs Vladimir has crushed with such pitiful ease. I believe our business is done here." She turned and began to leave.

"What? Hold it! You said if I proved myself to you, I'd be given information on what you and the other Sons of Tyranny are up to, not to ante a trading card!" Jerian said angrily.

Ankoku paused, when she turned to look at him the haughty smile from before had returned. "Then you should have been willing to risk more then your pride as a duelist to earn such valuable knowledge. You beat me at a children's card game, thus the reward reflects your accomplishment."

"You...you mean this was all for NOTHING?" Jerian demanded.

"As long as you share in Jalal's delusions that the future of this world rests in the hands of a children's game? Yes. We are not blind Shadowchaser, if Jalal knew of our intentions he would do everything in his power to destroy us, so do not expect me to risk our lives for something as insignificant as Duel Monsters, perhaps when next we meet, you'll face me as a warrior, not a duelist."

"I WILL say this: what Vladimir desires above all else, is to restore the ancient law of this world, the creed by which all living things have lived and died by since the dawn of time."

"The ancient law?"

Ankoku gave a smile that made Jerian's blood run cold. "In his words 'The flesh of the weak, is the food of the strong.' So it was, and soon, so it shall be again."

A whirlwind suddenly erupted around them as Ankoku's mocking laughter echoed into the distance. When it had subsided she was gone, leaving Jerian confused, frustrated, and deeply, DEEPLY troubled.

…

Jess watched as the bright light illuminated her room even from the long distance, sighing a little bit. She rubbed her head a little bit as she looked out the window. Right now she was feeling useless. Everyone else was helping in some way, and she was sitting there in her room like a punished school girl. With another sigh, she rubbed her knees.

This gave her time to think, however. About her father, about how her life had changed entirely in the previous week. Biting her lip, stroking her legs a little bit more. She wondered what had been going through her father's mind as he'd been struck down, if he'd been expecting that. Sighing, she felt a small tear run down her cheek, and she sighed sadly. All of her father's plans…all of his work, it was in shambles…

…Wait a minute….his work! While she was sure the officers or even the Shadowchasers probably swooped in, she was sure there was another part of the house they could never find, only she and her father knew! Important documents were in there! If she could get them back, she could help the others a great deal! She jumped to her feet and rushed to the door.

Stopping just before she grabbed the door handle, she turned and grabbed her deck. She could never be too sure, especially after the Ruin Roach incident. She then rushed out.

…

**Spell Ninja  
Type**: Warrior/Wind/Effect  
**Attack/Defense**: 1600/1200  
**LV**: 4  
**Effect**: When this cards attack is negated, select one spell/trap on the field and destroy it.

**Ninja Grand Boss  
Type**: Warrior/Wind/Effect  
**Attack/Defense**: 2000/2000  
**LV**: 6  
**Effect**: This card can be Special Summoned from your hand if you control two or more "Ninja" monsters. All "Ninja" monsters gain 500 ATK.

**Shinobi Fortress  
Type**: Field Spell  
**Image**: A large, feudal era fortress under a cloudy sky.  
**Effect**: You may skip your regular Draw Phase to add one monster with the word "Ninja" in it's name. If you have a face up "Ninja" on your side of the field, you may skip your draw phase to add one Normal Trap card from your deck to your hand. The selected card cannot have the effect of destroying other cards.

**Speed Spell – Broken Barrier  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: A motorcycle breaking through the median on the highway.  
**Effect**: Activate only when you have six or more Speed Counters. Your attacks cannot be negated this turn.

**Speed Spell – Broken Muffler  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: Smoke leaking out from under a card.  
**Effect**: Remove any number of Speed Counters on your Speed World. One monster on the field with a level equal to the number of Speed Counters removed has it's effect negated.

**Speed Spell – Warrior's Request  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: An army of warriors in the burst from Speed World.  
**Effect**: Activate when you have 5 or more Speed Counters. Warriors gain 500 ATK.

**No NOMI  
Type**: Trap  
**Image**: Goblin Calligrapher erasing the text "This card cannot be Special Summoned" from an unknown effect monster.  
**Effect**: Pay 2000 Life Points and select one monster in your deck or hand that cannot be Special Summoned. For the remainder of the turn, the selected card can be Special Summoned.

_Note: No NOMI was first created by Metal Overlord 2.0 All creative credit goes to him._

**Another Road  
Type**: Trap/Continuous  
**Image**: Two D-Wheels flying high in the air.  
**Effect**: This card can only be activated when there is a field spell card on the field. After activation, you may take one field spell card from your deck and place it underneath this card. As long as this card is face up on the field, this card has the effects of the field card placed underneath it.

_Note: Another Road was created by Lux-Nero. All creative credit goes to him._

**Ninja Commander Ikusa  
Type**: Warrior/Dark/Effect  
**Attack/Defense**: 700/700  
**LV**: 3  
**Effect**: When this card is summoned, Special Summon one "Ninja Solider Katana" from your hand or graveyard.

**Ninja Soldier Commander  
Type**: Warrior/Dark  
**Attack/Defense**: 400/400  
**LV**: 1  
**Effect**: None.

**Ninja Master Shogun  
Type**: Warrior/Dark/Effect  
**Attack/Defense**: 1600/1600  
**LV**: 5  
**Effect**: When this card is Tribute Summoned successfully, Special Summon 2 Level 4 or lower "Ninja" monsters from your deck.

**Ninja Smoke Bomb  
Type**: Trap  
**Image**: The image on this card was not clear.  
**Effect**: Activate when an opponent declares an attack on a "Ninja" monster you control. Negate the attack.

_Note: the above cards were first used by Jean Claude Magnum in the episode "Lights, Camera, Duel!". I changed the effect of Ninja Master Shogun to make it more flexible. All creative Credit goes to the writers of that episode._

…

Next time, Jess goes to her fathers house to get the information for the others. However, Lazarus has the same idea. Can Jess fight off the Lich and survive? Find out in "Zombie Master", coming soon.


	17. Zombie Master

Disclaimer: I do not own the Yu-Gi-Oh Franchise, nor do I intend to make money from it. I do not own the Shadowchasers, that belongs to Cybercommander. Any characters you see belong to me.

…

The crickets were chirping loudly as the night fell over West Adams, the moon was high in the sky with nary a cloud in sight. The lights inside of the house were flickering gently as figures moved behind the shaded areas, closing the curtains to ensure their privacy would be kept. The wind blew gently, blowing a few leaves off to the other side of the street. The street lights suddenly flickered into existence, revealing only a single figure on the otherwise dead street.

Jess looked up at the house, fighting back tears as the memories flooded back, the echoing sound of her father's scream and the terror that ran through her blood when she heard the snarling and the glass exploding behind her. Almost losing her life that day…

She shook her head and adjusted her glasses, blinking back her tears. _This is no time to be emotional. You came here to do a job, there's no time to reminisce. Maybe when this is all over, but…_Another sigh, shaking her head she stepped onto her own property, up to the door hanging off it's hinges and walked i.

The inside of the house was the same as she remembered it, cold and unused for the past week it seemed. Dust had begun to form over the surface. She took a shaky breath, reminding her that no one else in their right mind could be here, not only in this house, ransacked though it may be, but this late at night none the less. She felt like she was being watched from the darkness itself.

"Stop thinking like that." She said to herself, hitting herself lightly in the temple. "No one is here, you're being paranoid. I knew I should have listened to dad when he told me not to stay up so late watching horror movies…" She moved up to the Staircase and began to ascend it.

She didn't notice the pair of glowing purple eyes that had come from the darkness, watching her every step upward. A blink, and the eyes were gone just like that.

Jess opened the door, listening to it creek as she entered the room and took a look inside. Thankfully, it wasn't as bad as she thought. Her father's body was no where to be seen, surely either taken in by the Shadowchaser or the local police, either way she probably wouldn't have been able to handle it.

However, on the floor, his desk, and on portions of the wall was his splattered blood. It looked something had attempted to clean it up, but with little success. Biting her lip and taking a deep breath, she took a step into the room she never thought she would enter again. She delicately stepped over a large smear of blood and to his desk.

Opening the first drawer, her eyes widened behind her glasses, and she stroked a hand through her long red hair. Smiling sadly to herself, she reached in and pulled out a deck of Duel Monster's cards. Immediately knowing they were her fathers.

On the top was his best card. As she stroked a finger over the metal figure, a flashback flashed before her eyes.

…

_The opposing person grinned a little bit as he crossed his arms, thinking to himself, 'There's no way I can lose. I have my Swords of revealing light on the field to protect me for a little while longer. He's got nothing to help him, and I've got one more Exodia card to draw before I totally destroy this old geezer. I've got this thing in the bag…'_

_Alphonse, however, didn't seem all that worried, nor did he really care. Instead, he pointed forward, cast in the shadow of his ace monster. "Take him out, why don't you?"_

"_What! Are you crazy old man? I've got my Swords of Revealing Light on the field! There's no way you can-" He stopped in mid sentence when he saw the monster rise from his spot on the floor, brushing past the Swords and lumber towards him. His eyes widened in shock. "Oh shit."_

_The opposing player shrieked as he was thrown back into the ground, the titanic figure slashing him in the chest with no remorse._

_**(Alphonse: 2500) - - - - - - - - (Opponent: 0)**_

"_Ladies and Gentlemen, in another stunning turn of events it would seem as though our champion today is Alphonse, let's give him a hand!"_

_Alphonse smiled and waved his hand at the cheering fans, who had begun to chant his name over the flashes of the camera. He finally turned around and gave one final wave as he entered the hallway._

_Standing there was an excited, much younger Jess, who rushed over to her father and grinned, grabbing his hand. "I knew you would win, daddy."_

_He smiled alittle and reached down, picking her up. "Heh, that's why I won, because I didn't want to disappoint you."_

_Jess giggled a little and adjusted so she was now sitting on her father's shoulder. A second later, she asked, "Daddy, why do you always use that weird trap? It creeps me out…"_

_Alphonse chuckled and pulled out the said trap, Metalmorph. "You know why? This is my favorite card."_

"_But why?"_

"_Just trust me on this honey. Sooner or later, I'll tell you, and you'll see why this is my favorite card. It's very important in this deck and else where."_

"_Oh," She said. She sounded like she didn't know where he was going with this, or even what he was talking about._

_He chuckled again. "Just trust me, honey. One day, you'll understand…"_

…

"One day you'll understand…" She echoed as she came back into reality. Her eyes opened again, and she reached into the backpart of her pocket, pulling out the Metalmorph trap she'd been carrying with her this entire time. "I don't think it's that easy dad…"

Standing there for a few more moments, she put the deck into the back pocket of her jeans again and began to sift through the rest of the drawers. Finding nothing more than a few papers with random scribbling on them, she frowned and shut them. "Well, I can only pray that no one's found dad's secret spot…"

Walking over to the wall, she pressed a hand against it. It pushed further into the wall, removing the loose panel from the wall and revealing a wall safe. She grabbed the dial, turning it a few times (she remembered the combination easily, considering it was her birthday after all) and opened it with a loud creaking sound.

Breathing a sigh of relief, seeing all of the paperwork her father truly needed was still there. "Thank god…" She grabbed them all and held them close to her chest. Perfect! Now all she had to do was get out of here an head back to Damian's place. Then she could get down to business about what the Skin-Walker and the Sons of Tyranny in general wanted when they attacked.

She paused when she heard the soft chattering of a rat on the ground. Its back was turned to her, nibbling on something she couldn't see. She giggled a little. She was never really scared of the mice and rats that had always somehow found their way into her house. She found them cute, rather than hideous. Kneeling down, holding the papers to her chest, she reached out. "Hey there little guy. You lost?"

The rat turned around. Jess screamed in surprise and fell on her backside, her hand to her mouth in shocked horror. The rat had just a skull for a head, bleach white with empty, eyeless sockets and sharp little teeth. It was missing a few patches of fur now that she looked at it closely. The rat crept closer, sniffing at a page Jess had dropped. Sniffing rapidly, it grabbed the page in its teeth and scampered off.

"Hey!" Jess shouted. Rather than question how the rat was living without skin and a brain, she jumped to her feet and rushed off after the small, seemingly undead rodent. Chasing him out into the living room and down the stairs back into her living room. The rat dropped the paper just before it disappeared into the dark part of the living room, seeming to disappear into the Shadows. Jess thanked god once again for the lucky break and rushed over to the discarded paper. Before she could reach it, however, a cudgel shot from the darkness and pressed into the paper.

"Well, well, well," Chuckled a voice from the darkness. "What have we here…?"

Jess backed away in stunned horror as the shape began to pull itself from the darkness like he had been part of it. True, it was Lazarus that pulled from the darkness, cudgel in his hand and several dead rats, mice and even a cat around his ankles.

"An intruder, it would seem…" He lifted his cudgel with the paper on the end and looked at it. Wrinkled fingers gripped at the paper and held it in front of him, smirking. "Well, well, well!" He said with a wheezing chuckle. "It would seem we have…similar goals…"

"Who…who are you?" She asked, shakily.

Lazarus frowned a little and sighed. "Who am I? Quite an interesting question as I've acquired quite a few names in my time. Son of Kyuss, Bringer of Plagues, the Ageless Blight, you get the idea. But the only one YOU need to know is my birth name, Lazarus and before you say, yes, I'm aware of the irony."

"I was about to say, you sure as hell don't look like 'God's assistant', unless you're supposed to be one of the four horsemen." She joked nervously.

Lazarus growled a little bit and gripped his cudgel even tighter. "Oh yes, how original, like I haven't heard a religious joke based on my name before."

He took a step closer. The cat that was beside his knees hissed and arched up, horrifying Jess because it had it's spinal cord exposed and one of its eyes was missing, only a black hole where it had once been. "I think a more important question is…who are YOU?"

Jess gulped a little bit more. _This guy is eminating a bad aura…I can feel it from over here…_

Lazarus narrowed his eyes a little bit more, pressing his spectacles closer to his eyes before he widened them. "Oh! I see! I don't see why I couldn't see this earlier." He grinned a grin Jess didn't like, "You're the old codger's daughters, aren't you?"

"That's…that's none of your business!" She exclaimed.

"Ahhh, got a bit of a mouth on you," He said, frowning. "I don't like it when people give me LIP!" he slammed his cudgel on the ground again, and a swirling black vortex appeared at his feet, from which several fanged serpentine tendrils slipped from, bobbing around him.

"Wait, wait, wait." She said as she scooted back even further, holding the papers closer to her for dear life. "You…you can't hurt me, I'm a…" She paused. "I'm a Shadowchaser! And you have to follow by the fair fight clause!"

THAT got Lazarus laughing uproariously. "That's cute, young one, cute! But see, I'm not as gullible as the Ruin Roach you tried that same method on. As you're not a Shadowchaser, there's little stopping me from using these to rip you in half, stealing the papers and letting Minamochi do with your remains as he sees fit…" Another short pause, a sinister grin. "In fact, that's what I'll DO! DIE!" The tendrils shot at Jess at alarming speed.

Jess screamed and lifted her hand to defend herself feebly. She hoped that her death would be at the least quick and painless, and maybe the others would be better off without her…

She peeked through her fingers in curiosity at the pain that had yet to come, seeing that she had been covered by a shimmering shield of energy. The snake like tendrils that had almost attacked her had been blown apart, slinking back weakly to Lazarus' portal and disappeared.

Lazarus frowned heavily and gripped his cudgel even further. "…I see." Was all he said, "You're still under that protective spell…?"

"I…I am…?" She asked. Didn't she give the De-Spell back to Scraps after the incident with the Ruin Roach…how was she still protected?

"Very well then," the necromancer said with a bored shrug of his shoulders. "I suppose that the only way to get to you through that protective bubble is through that pesky fair fight clause non-sense." He lifted his hand and flexed his fist. A slow, coiling dark tentacle wrapped around his arm, which solidified into a Duel Disk. He grunted as a loud crack came from his wrist, as if the Duel Disk was too much for him to keep held in the air. "Bah…damn, fangled technology…"

_I could run right now…_Jess thought to herself. _But I don't know how this spell works, or how I even keep it. I don't think I can outrun a necromancer, no matter how old and…rotten he is._ She gulped. _I can handle a Ruin Roach, I can handle a Necromancer. Besides, for all I know, he's got this place sealed down so I can't make it out…_

She shakily grabbed her duel disk, keeping her eyes on the Necromancer the entire time. Her Duel Disk launched into place, Lazarus followed suit.

"Now then…" Lazarus said, another hideous grin crossing his features. "LET'S DUEL!" Slammed his Cudgel on the ground. Darkness began to seep from the point of collision and shrouding the two of them in a dark bubble of pure energy.

_Oh yeah…oh yeah, that's bad, that's BAD._ She thought, shuddering a little bit as the darkness lapped at her ankles.

**(Jess: 8000) - - - - - - - (Lazarus: 8000)**

"I think I'll start things off." Lazarus drew his card and looked at it. Another chuckle, he placed it calmly on his disk. "I summon Dragon Zombie in attack mode."

A blue portal of energy appeared, and from it crawled an iconic beast, a purple dragon with rotting flesh. It let a glutteral growl escape it's open mouth. (1600/0)

Jess' eyes widened in surprise, only to widen further when Lazarus spoke again, "I end my turn."

_Why did he just summon Dragon Zombie in attack mode? That thing is older than DIRT!_ She drew her card. _Oh perfect, I can set up my combo right here if I wanted to…_

"I activate Gift of the Weak. By removing from play a Level three or lower monster in my hand, I can draw two cards," She did just that, pocketing a card and drawing two cards. "Now I can activate the effect of the card I just removed from play: Alchemy Scientist. Since he was removed from play, I can add a Chaos Distil from my deck to my hand!"

She took the card jutting out from her deck and added it to her hand, immediately playing it. The large onion shaped alchemy machine appeared, shooting smoke out of all the cracks and what not.

"Then I'll keep my mojo going and summon D.D Assassin!" A swirling vortex formed, and from it appeared a blonde haired female, holding up a large blade as she glared at Lazarus. (1700/1600)

"D.D Assailant, attack Dragon Zombie with Otherworldly Cut!" Assailant disappeared in a blur, only to reappear to the side of the Dragon Zombie. Before the reanimated corpse could react, the massive blade was swung, and the dragon's head came off with a spray of putrid blood. The dragon exploded into pixels, and Assailant disappeared back to Jess' field.

**(Jess: 8000) - - - - - - - (Lazarus: 7900)**

"Ha, first blood goes to me! What do you have to say to THAT, you fossil?" Jess grinned, feeling very proud of herself.

Lazarus didn't look pleased to be honest. In fact, he looked bored. "Yes, yes, very good, you managed to defeat one of my monsters and do a whopping one hundred points of damage to me, I'll be sure to throw you a parade later on. Is that your turn?"

Jess blinked a little. _Well, looks like trash talking isn't his strong suit._ "Um…" She slipped a card down. "I set one card facedown and end my turn."

"Damn right you do." Lazarus said as he drew another card. Adding the said card to his hand, he placed another one on his decrepit disk. From the glowing portal of darkness appeared another zombie, but wearing rotting Samurai armor, sans the helmet so Jess could see the rotting green flesh of the samurai himself. (1500/0)

"…Is that Armored Zombie?" Jess asked in mild surprise.

"It's glad to know these monsters haven't lost their identities in the swarm of meta cards, people still remember them." He sneered. Another card appeared behind the Zombie, "I end my turn with this facedown."

"You realize that these monsters would be a lot better in defense mode, right?" Jess asked before she drew another card. Looking at said card, she nodded. "I don't have any monsters to summon, but at the least I can start padding my life points! I play Soul Absorption!" Another spell appeared beside the Chaos Distil, and almost immediately it began to swarm with unknown souls. "Now every time a card is removed from play, I'll get a good little bonus of 500 Life Points. Now Assailant, attack Armored Zombie!"

The assassin disappeared once again in a blur, leaving the armored zombie in a very confused stupor. As he began to look around, his upper half suddenly detached from his bottom half before exploding. From behind the Zombie was the assassin herself, before she disappeared into another blur back onto Jess' side of the field.

Lazarus, once more, didn't seem to notice the damage that had been dealt to his Life Points. Rather, much to Jess' horror, he had pulled his own eyeball out, leaving an empty socket on the right side of his face, and was wiping it off on his sleeve as if it were a glass bauble. Finally, he popped it back in with a disgusting squelch sound before he looked about. "I'm sorry, did you do anything? I couldn't be bothered to notice…or care."

Jess blushed a little from embarrassment before she cleared her throat. "I…I guess I'll end my turn…"

Lazarus, once again, drew disturbingly calmly. He slipped a card in, and as another dark portal appeared, he said, "I'll summon the final member of the famous trio, the Clown Zombie in attack mode." Sure enough, from the portal appeared the yellow skinned, rotting clown with the hideous grimace and holding his scythe up proudly was the clown zombie. (1350/0)

"Really?" Jess asked. "You do realize you can summon these things in defense mode, right? You don't have to keep summoning them in attack and suffering so much damage."

"Hmph," Lazarus coughed a little, "I know enough of this game how to play it child, I don't need to take advice from someone like YOU," to emphasis the 'you' he pointed his cudgel at her.

"Just trying to help…" She said and drew her card. She showed the Spell card that she had drawn. "I play Tin Circle Spell, so I can summon Iatos the Tin in attack mode!"

The spell appeared on the field, and from said Spell appeared the tin bird. (500/500)

"Iatos, attack him directly!" The eagle flew forward and slashed at Lazarus' chest, causing a small reaction out of him in the form of a small grunt. Looking up, he saw that the assailant had vanished and what was left of Clown Zombie had been blown to chunks on the ground. Dusting himself off, he chuckled.

"Surely you can do better than that…"

"In case you haven't realized, you corpse, I'm ahead of you in terms of Life Points and my field…"

"True, but I have a very strong feeling that's all about to change…"

**(Jess: 8500) - - - - - - - (Lazarus: 6850)**

"Well if you think you can turn this around, I'm eager to see how you can do this," Jess said with a shrug, "I'll end my turn."

Lazarus drew his card and after looking at it, smirked. "Ah, part one of my combo is ready. I'll play the field spell, Terraforming to add a Field Spell from my deck to my hand." Taking the card that had come from the deck, he immediately placed it on his disk, "And I'll activate it, Alpha-Wave Emission!"

At first nothing happened at least from what Jess could see. She did notice that the air had turned slightly purple and misty. D.D Assailant suddenly dropped her sword and fell over, looking very pale and coughing weakly. Iatos curled up, shivering slightly.

"Alpha-Wave Emission is one of the rarest Virus cards around, and for good reason. As long as it's on the field, all monsters on the field lose 300 Attack points, and they're not allowed to attack."

Jess watched in surprise as her monsters suddenly began to grow infested with boils, some of the skin rotting away then and there. Lazarus chuckled tauntingly, shrugging, "Brings me back to my old days in Europe…ah the hell I used to raise…"

"It's a field spell, old man!" Jess suddenly exclaimed. "You're just as tied down as I am!"

Lazarus frowned. He set a monster in defense. "We'll see about that child. I end my turn."

Jess drew a card and winced. _I can't attack, and my deck is almost entirely forced to attack as much as possible. I have to stall and pad my life points…_"I play Bronze Scale to summon Ouroboros the Bronze in defense mode!"

The Bronze lizard appeared, hissing before it too curled up in pain, boils and rust appearing over it. (500/500) - (200/500)

"Then I switch Iatos and Assailant to defense mode and end my turn." The two monsters curled up in defense, both of them looking thankful to at the least be resting.

"Heh, and you taunted me about saying I wasn't doing much." He drew another card. "I'll play another personal favorite, Brain Control, to take control of that harlot of yours!" The disembodied brain appeared, floating in mid air. Two ghastly arms appeared on either side of them before reaching over and grabbing the female assassin, dragging her over the Necromancer's field.

"Now, onto phase two of my plan, I'll play Field Rejection!" The field appeared, in which several Flamvell monsters were standing in Umi with frightened Aqua monsters floating away. "By tributing a monster on my own side of the field, I'm not affected by any Field spells that happen to be in play."

Jess gasped as D.D Assailant disappeared into light from the feet up, barely noticing the increase of her own Life points from the effect of Soul Absorption. "So that means…"

"Yes, yes, we all know what it means, we don't need you crying out in surprise that only my field spell will effect you and put you in an unfair advantage. Honestly, what is it with this generation and wanting to blurt out the bloody obvious?"

Jess blushed…again._ Geez, when he says it like that…_

"Now, another question, if I know about the game enough, then why did I send my own three monsters to their untimely deaths so soon? Why would you think that?"

Jess paused and thought about it. Biting her lip, she slaped her forehead. "Don't tell me…you WANTED them destroyed…"

Lazarus released another wheezing round of laughter, before coughing up some dust and making him pound on his own chest to catch his breath…or lack there of. "It seems as though you lot aren't entirely clueless after all. I play the continuous trap card, Nightmare Rush!" The trap card lifted up, "With exactly three Dark monsters with non-existant defense scores, I can summon each and every one of them!"

The ground in front of him, despite the fact it was a wooden floor mind you burst apart as if they were dueling under the earth itself. The rotting hands and claws of the monsters from before suddenly burst from the ground, and with eyes glowing with blood lust came Dragon Zombie, Armored Zombie, and Clown Zombie, drool and blood leaking from their lips. (1600/0) (1500/0) (1350/0)

_He can wipe out my entire field…_Jess thought to herself in a panic.

"But before you can go and panic about how I can take you out right here and now, calm yourself," Lazarus said, rolling his eyes…only to have one pop out and hit the floor. Grumbling, he reached down and began to wipe it off, "I can't attack on the same turn I used Nightmare Rush. So you have one more turn to see if you can turn this around. The real question is…can you?"

**(Jess: 9500) - - - - - - - (Lazarus: 6050)**

_I wish I could, but it's not looking good! _She drew her card and played it immediately. "I play Burning Distil! Now by destroying any number of my Alchemy Beasts, I can deal you 800 points of damage. I think I'll only risk one."

The Chaos Distil behind her suddenly began to shake, rattle and hiss violently, at which point Iatos suddenly rose to it's wings, flapping them weakly. His skin turned to liquid metal and he flew to Lazarus, exploding on contact. He let out a grunt as he flew back a little, making him land on his backside and snapping one of his legs off.

"Dammit!" He suddenly shouted in anger as he picked up the broken appendage. "This is going to take a second…"

"Yeah, well while you're trying to bring yourself together," she giggled a little, "I'll summon Dimensional Alchemist!" The alchemist appeared, coughing and holding himself as the sores and blisters formed over his body. (1300/200) - (1000/200)

"To keep it going, I'll use it's effect to remove the top card of my deck from play, which will give it a 500 attack boost and me a 500 Life Point boost." She removed the card, noticing it was a second Chaos Distil. Dimensional Alchemist rose another 500 points, and the souls from her Soul Absorption card flew into her body.

Jess prepared to end her turn, but winced when she heard a loud, sickening SNAP sound as Lazarus finally managed to fit his leg back into place. "There…" He said, lifting himself up. "Good as new…"

Jess gagged a little, "I'll…um….end my turn I guess…"

"Yes, I suppose there IS little you can do in this situation other than wait, huh?" He asked. Drawing his card, he cackled again. "NOW We can begin the fun! I'll play the spell card, Cost Down, discarding this card in my hand, and reducing the level of all monsters in my hand by two." He discarded the card, leaving him with only one other card in his hand. "Now I'll summon it!"

The ground once more burst as though they were standing on dirt while the three Zombies kneeled down. Jess recognized it immediately, a massive zombie with a pumpkin for a head, a single glaring eye, and several snapping tentacles around it's body. (1900/2000)

"…Pumpking? Pumpking, the King of Ghosts? Man, you really ARE ancient if you're using these cards! I mean, why are you using these dime a dozen zombies when there are so many better ones?"

Lazarus gave her a dirty look. "Of course, what was I thinking? This was supposed to be the part where I summoned Fushioh Richie and explain why it's a symbol of life long goals. Why don't I just hold a giant sign around my neck saying how uncreative I am?

"If we were using decks based solely on our personalities, why are you using Alchemy Beasts and not Mokey Mokey? You share the same blank expressions."

Jess snarled a little.

"Hurts, doesn't it? The idea that you have some ludicrous obligation to give those around you exactly what you'd expect. Why do you think shadows such as the Ophidia and Orcs have such a grudge against the Shadowchasers? Because they encourage the most disgustingly transparent stereotypes imaginable and expect to get away with it. Even a Necromancer like me isn't as shallow as Jalal and his dogs."

Jess let the comment slip in, and she cleared her throat uncomfortably.

"Now then, if I won't be interrupted AGAIN, I'll finish my combo, thank you very much." Slamming his cudgel on the ground, he exclaimed, "ARISE!"

The facedown monster lifted up to face up, and Lazarus' field went completely black for a moment. Then, the monsters were revealed slowly one by one, revealing that the Castle of Dark Illusions had flipped itself up. (920/1930)

"A nice little combo I have here, isn't it?" He chuckled. "Since I flipped the Castle of Dark Illusions, all of my Zombies will gain 200 Attack points and defense points over the next four turns. But not Pumpking, he'll gain 300 attack and defense! Now rise my Zombies, gain your strength from the darkness!"

Pumpking let loose a booming laugh as, much to Jess' horror, the tentacles belonging to the massive pumpkin slipped into the rotting flesh of the Zombies, and began to pump…._something _into them. Whatever it was, it was making them grow bigger. Finally, all of the scores changed. The Clown Zombie rose to 1550, Armored Zombie rose to 1700, Dragon Zombie rose to 1800, and Pumpking himself rose to 2100.

Jess braced herself, wincing at the pain that was coming very shortly.

"Clown Zombie, kill her snake!" Clown Zombie cackled and threw his Scythe at the snake, which split in half and exploded. Jess felt more souls fly into her body from Soul Absorption. "Armored Zombie, attack her Alchemist!" Another ghoulish laugh was heard as the undead samurai unsheathed his rusted sword and swiped the Dimensional Alchemist, who fell into two separate pieces.

Jess looked up at the massive, looming figure of Pumpking, who only gave another echoing, booming laugh as its tentacles lifted into the air, wriggling around…

"Dragon Zombie, Pumpking…"

Dragon Zombie inhaled deeply…

"Hurt her."

Jess screamed as the burning acid breath from Dragon Zombie hit her at point blank, scalding her skin somehow, then screamed again when the tentacle from the bigger zombie struck her across the face, knocking her down and onto the floor.

**(Jess: 6900) - - - - - - - (Lazarus: 6050)**

"I'd give you my advice and say to stay down, otherwise it'll only get worse for you, but knowing you you'll only argue that I won't get away with it, and struggle valiantly. I know how your kind works, so let's just move on. I have no more cards in my hand, so I'll simply pass my turn. But it doesn't look too good for you…"

_He's right…_She thought as she drew. _I can't attack his monsters, and they're just going to get stronger and stronger with every passing turn! I need something to turn this around and fast!_ She looked at her drawn card, and looked over Lazarus' field. _…This'll work!_

"I'll just end my turn with this one card facedown." She said.

"Heh," Lazarus said, grinning as he drew his card. "I suppose there is little you can do in this case, isn't there? Now my monsters grow even STRONGER."

The tentacles bulged and pumped more protoplasm into the monsters, which began to transform before Jess' horrified eyes. Dragon Zombie was growing much larger, it's teeth growing far sharper and acid was dripping from it's maw, Armored Zombie held its sword up as more of it's body rotted away, armor falling off. Clown Zombie seemed to grow fatter, it's claws growing much sharper as a third eye appeared on it's forehead.

(1550/200) - (1750/400) (1700/200) - (1900/400) (1800/200) - (2000/400) (2100/2300) - (2400/600)

"Then for some additional fanfare, I'll activate one of the rarest cards in my deck: Hail to the Pumpking!" He slapped another card onto his as the darkness seemed to swarm even more around his field, shrouding that of even the Castle of Dark Illusions. "However, as much fun as it would be to explain it now, that would be pointless. Instead, I'll have my monsters rip yours attack! DESTROY HER!"

The four Zombies looked up at Jess, slobber dribbling from their chin before they loose a ghoulish shriek and charged for her, claws, teeth, tentacles and weaponry raised and ready to cut her down…

She almost didn't have enough time to point to her facedown, at which case she held up her arms to hide her face in terror. Peeking through her arms, she notice that the monsters were being held at bay, pressing their faces up against the invisible wall that kept them from their prey, blood and drool seeping from various openings on their body.

Lazarus frowned heavily, gripping his cudgel tightly. "Care to explain?"

"Hm?" Jess asked. "Oh…" She had almost been too frightened to remember what she had done. "My trap…Elemental Barrier. By removing a monster in my hand, monsters of that same attribute can't attack…" She held up the monster, "And by discarding Moonface, I'm safe from ALL your monsters."

"Hmmm…" Lazarus nodded a little. "I see. Well, it IS rather cute how you manage to fight and fight, but with my current growing army of monsters, it'll only be a matter of time before I can crumble your line of defense. All I can do now I suppose is end my turn."

The Zombie monsters reluctantly slid back to their masters field, snarling and grumbling under their breath as they did. Jess sighed, but couldn't help but think he was right. How much longer until he rew something that could destroy his Spells and traps…?

She drew her card an sighed. A small defense was all she could pray for in this situation. A monster appeared in front of her. "I see one monster in defense mode and end my turn."

"Really," he said, "We're at a stand still. How riveting." He drew his card and looked at it. "Well unlike you, I think I'll do something. First of all, I'll play my monsters effect again, and this time Hail to the PUmpking's effect activates, granting my monsters an additional 300 Attack points."

The spell pulsed further, and more of the ectoplasm was pumped into their body. This time, they grew near twice their size and roared a little more as their attack rose by 500 points, mutating them further and more horribly.

"However, as I'm just as pinned down by your trap as you are by my field spell, I'll bide my time by playing King's Worship." The Spell appeared, and Gold poured out of in front of the Pumpking, "Since I control both the Castle and the King himself, I'm allowed to draw cards for each Zombie under their influence. I control, so I draw three."

He pulled off the top three cards from his deck and looked at them. "Be thankful that I can't activate any of the cards. So I'll end my turn and merely bide my time."

Jess drew her card, and she sighed. "Okay, I'll summon someone new, I summon the Silver Homunculus!"

A loud hiss of a reptile was heard as a portal of multicolored energy appeared, a second later a large serpentine like creature, made entire out of what appeared to be silver, eyes glowing orbs of light. (?/?)

"I can summon the Silver Homunculus when I have Chaos Distil on the field, and he gains 500 Attack for each Alchemy Beast I have removed from play! In case you couldn't tell, that's three!" (1500/1500)

"Yes, that's all well and good, but I also couldn't help but notice that you're still tied down to my Field Spell." It was true, the virus flew into the mouth of the serpent, and it let out a weak hiss as more of its energy was drained. (1500/1500) - (1200/1500)

"I'm just building up my forces when I do get the chance, I'm taking your rotting ass down…" Jess warned, her eyes narrowing from behind her glasses. "I can't do anything else, so I'll pass my turn."

"Getting feisty, are we?" he asked, drawing his cards and waved his hands. His monsters all rose further in attack, rising all above 2500 Attack each, the highest was Pumpking with 3000 Attack points. "Heh, I must say this is rather enjoyable to watch you struggle vainly to find a way to overcome my monsters slowly growing strength. So I'm going to throw you a bone. I'll merely end my turn without doing anything!" he said with a loud laugh. "Now come on, make this at least interesting…I'm getting quite bored."

Growling, she drew another card, and blinked. "Fine, you want interesting, I'll give you interesting by playing Effect Vacuum!" The spell appeared on the field, and suddenly a glowing yellow portal appeared in between the two duelists, which began to suck in the particles from the virus lingering in the air into it.

"What are you doing?" Lazarus shouted, bracing himself as the pull enhanced quite a bit.

"Effect Vacuum allows me to negate the effect of one face up card, Mine or yours, Spell or trap or monster by paying 1000 Life Points, and I'm negating your Field Spell!" The Field was suddenly clear of the virus particles, and her Silver Homunculus let loose another loud hiss as its strength returned.

"Now that I can attack again, I'll use Silver Homunculus' effect! By returning one of my Alchemy Beasts back to my deck from my removed from play Pile…well…"

Taking Ouroboros and letting the deck shuffle it back in, the silver reptile leapt past Lazarus army and bit him clear on his arm, piercing his skin and striking his bone. Rather than scream, the undead whacked it in the head with his cudgel. "Get off me you mistake of science!"

Slinking back to Jess' side of the field, the Reptile hissed and glared angrily at the necromancer. "You don't have to abuse my monsters you know…"

"When they do little other than annoy me…yes, yes I do." He said in return.

**(Jess: 6900) - - - - - - - (Lazarus: 4050)**

"Well fine. I'll end my turn, which means your damn Spell card gets it's effect back." The glowing portal vanished, and the virus was released once again into the air.

"Damn right." Lazarus drew a card and chuckled. "Well, the four turns are up." He said. The ectoplasm was pumped into his zombies attack, finally ending it with the following stats, staring down at Jess.

Clown Zombie: 3250/1900

Armored Zombie: 3400/1900

Dragon Zombie: 3500/1900

Pumpking, King of Ghosts: 3600/3800

"Now before I continue on, perhaps I should explain what makes Hail to the Pumpking such a unique card. See, when I've run out of turns to use The Castle of Dark Illusion's effect, I can discard cards from the top of my deck to my graveyard. As a result…" He pulled off the top four cards of his deck and held them up, "I can reset the count down!" He cackled and discarded the cards. "That means I can continuously use The Castle of Dark Illusion's effect, so long as I have cards in my deck to discard! And trust me…" he held up his disk to show he had SEVERAL more cards in his deck. "I have plenty."

Jess' eyes widened. "You mean…they'll just keep growing stronger…"

"That's the gist of it," he said and turned his eyes to look at his card for the first time. He chuckled and let a wicked grin cross his face. "Oh…Oh this card. I love playing this card. Let's see how YOU handle it?" He played the card. "I play Victory from Sacrifice! I suggest you hold your breath now…"

"What are you…" She asked before she looked down. Her eyes widened when she saw Pumpking's vines wrapping up around her body and slowly constricted around her neck. She saw Lazarus was in the same situation, but much less bothered.

"By paying half of my life points." He explained, as if not deterred from the vine squeezing his neck, "I'm allowed to deal you damage equal to my monsters current attack points."

Jess let out a strangled scream as she clawed at the vine. Lazarus just let the vine do what it needed to do, looking as if he had done this before. Knowing him, much to one's horror, he was. After a moment of squeezing, a loud crack was heard from Lazarus' side. His neck had snapped, but knowing him that wasn't much of an issue.

"I must say, it's been quite a while since I've been lynched in real life," He said topically, "interesting note that when the neck doesn't snap on the first try, then the person shall die of asphyxiation. Not the most comfortable way, it does certainly gets the job done."

After several seconds of agonizing pain, she was dropped on her backside while Lazarus did the same, only landing on his feet, head lolling to the side. Grumbling, he grabbed his chin and the back of his head. "I can't do anything else except set these two cards facedown…" Two facedown cards appeared before him, and with a loud, sickening SNAP, he aligned his head back into place. "Much better…and end my turn."

**(Jess: 3600) - - - - - - - - (Lazarus: 2025)**

Jess, on the other hand, was gagged and panting for breath. _I can't…I can't keep this up…that hurt so much, I can barely breath…Oh, I was an idiot to think I should come here without anyone else…now I'm going to die, and I have no one to blame but myself!_

Lazarus shook his head. "Really, did you think you can defeat me in such a manner. Your monsters are pitiful, your strategy is laughable, and your deck itself is a total joke. Then again, I suppose considering who your father was, that was to be expected, a pathetic, laughable, joke. I suppose the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, now does it?"

Jess paused, before she let loose a small growl that escaped her mouth, standing up and shaking. Something in her back pocket began to glow a dull light, which attracted Lazarus' attention, eyebrow cocking. _What in blazes…_

"Don't you insult my father!" She screamed, causing the glowing in her pocket to suddenly intensifying. His eyes widened a little bit at this. What was this strange…

She drew her card, her heart burning and her dedication reaching new level, she looked at her hand. She smirked a little bit and placed the spell into her Duel Disk. "I'll play Mystical Space Typhoon, and I'm aiming it towards your Hail to the Pumpking!" The cyclone erupted from the card and towards the glowing Spell cards…

After snapping back to attention, Lazarus snarled and shot a hand out. "Over my still dead body! I play Dark Bribe, which negates your spell cards effect, but gives you a free draw!"

Jess chuckled a little as she pulled her card off the top of her deck. "I thought you. You must want that card alive for a reason outside of attack increasing. But I'm afraid that's not gonna last. I play Heavy Storm!"

Lazarus' eyes bugged out more than humans should be able to as, though the cyclone began to die down, it suddenly spun back to life into a full fledged hurricane, ripping apart all of their spells and traps, but the one most hit was Lazarus, as his two Continuous spells, facedown, and field spell were ripped apart.

Suddenly, something odd happened. The monsters on his field seemed to react the worst, as the Castle of Dark Illusions suddenly exploded violently into pebbles and rocks, scattering all over the place. The Zombies screamed out an unholy scream as they began to wither and wither and wither, the souls (or lackthere of, as the case may be) sucked forcibly out of their bodies until they were nothing but withered husks of their former selves, shattering into pixels.

Pumpking, however, was effected the worst. Whatever happened, it hurt him bad as he let loose a loud, piercing roar, eye bulging out as his tentacles snapped in all directions from the pain. Letting out another choked scream, he exploded violently into pumpkin guts, ectoplasm, and…blood.

Jess stood there in mild surprise, coated from top to bottom in blood and gore. She wiped her glasses free of the gunk and placed them back on her face, attempting to shake off whatever was left. "Um…so…what was…"

"Yes, that was graphic." Lazarus said, banging his cudgel on the ground. A blast of air erupted from his body, blowing the guts and ectoplasm from his body, leaving him dry as a bone. "A side effect of Hail to the Pumpking I'm afraid. When it leaves the field, I love all of the monsters on my field. I'd say…" He chuckled a little bit. "It was worth it."

"We'll just see how worth it was, then!" She shouted. "I'll sacrifice the Silver Homunculus for the main star of my deck, the Golden Homunculus!"

The silver reptile suddenly disappeared into a glowing orb of energy, which formed into the large, statuesque warrior made of gold. It let loose a loud, bellowing roar. (1500/1500) - (4500/4500)

"This is it, you rotting bag of flesh!" She screamed. "Take this! Golden Homunculus, attack him directly! Elemental Crunch!"

Pulling his fist back, the massive giant threw a single punch at the smaller Necromancer, with almost nothing to stop him, it seemed. Suddenly, Lazarus played a card from his hand, announcing, "I'll play the trap card, Power Wall."

And just like that, Lazarus plucked twenty five cards from the top of his deck and threw them up into the air, which formed into a black shield and blocked the blow entirely. The Golden Homunculus fell back a little bit, before reaching Jess' field again.

"…You want to tell me HOW you played a TRAP card from your HAND during MY turn?" Jess asked, her eye twitching.

"Heh, it's funny you should mention that. Remember that other facedown card you destroyed with Heavy Storm? A useful little thing called Cross Counter Trap that, during the turn you destroyed it, I'm allowed to play a Spell or a Trap whenever I please. See, I am never unprepared. I can handle anything you can possibly throw at me. And Power Wall's effect lets me discard cards from my hand to the graveyard to negate 100 points of damage for each card. So by discarding twenty five cards, I negated 2500 damage, and I'm still in this."

**(Jess: 4100) - - - - - - - - (Lazarus: 25)**

"Well…with only 25 Life Points, there's not a lot you can do, and I still have the stongest monster on the field!" She shouted proudly. "So there's not a lot you can do except let me plow you down! I end my turn!"

Lazarus stared at her. "You think it matters if you have the strongest monster on the field? It doesn't. What I have on the other hand is strategy, and smarts. There's little you've done that isn't brute force in this entire duel. However, allow me to show you what true brain power can get into this duel."

He drew a card and looked at it. "For example. I play the Spell card Vengeful Souls. For each Zombie monster in my graveyard, you lose 200 Life Points. And with Power Wall, there are quite a few…"

From his graveyard, shrieking, came an army of spirits, faces twisted into a visage of endless pain. The stream of the undead suddenly turned in mid air and swarmed around Jess, surrounding her.

Jess screamed as they clawed and bit and tore at her, lifting her into mid air. Jess screamed further, it felt like her soul was being ripped right out of her body. But then, just as it seemed it would never end, and it seemed to grow at its worst, it stopped and she fell to the ground, gasping and coughing.

"Moving right along, the monster I discarded so very long ago, near the beginning, in fact, was a Monster known as Sleepy Beauty, which reduces the level of every zombie in my hand by one, meaning I can summon this Level five Zombie as a Level four. So I'll summon Patrician of Darkness."

With a ghoulish laugh, a blue skinned vampire appeared in front of Lazarus, holding his wings in front of him like a cape. (2000/1500)

"Following my turn, I'll return this card in my hand to the top of my deck in order to Special Summon my monster, Plaguespreader Zombie."

A purple fist punched through the ground and another figure pulled itself free from the ground. It was a hideous looking beast, purple in skin and sunken in eyes, rotting teeth and a round body. (400/200)

"Now, I'll tune both of my monsters together to summon my greatest beast in my deck." He snapped his fingers and Plaguespreader Zombie let another echoing cackle before he exploded into two, green rings. The rings enveloped Patrician of Darkness for a moment before they exploded into a total of seven stars.

"_The cries of the dead, and the endless torture of the spirits, rise and lead the army of the dead against the living! Rise…"_

A massive figure landed behind him, shadowing him entirely and finally, FINALLY, tearing apart the all ready spacious upper stories roof. Alphonse was a duelist, so it was common for him to duel against Tele-DAD decks, so she often saw Dark Armed Dragon in action.

However, this thing was far worse. It was Dark Armed Dragon, but in an advanced state of decomposition, leaving behind a titan pile of bone and metal. Its left arm was gone, and its eyes were glowing red sockets of burning hate.

"Necro Armed Dragon…"

(2800/1000)

"Heh, heh, heh…" Lazarus said, "I can tell by the look of paralyzed fear in your face that you're frightened. Well you should be. See, Necro Armed Dragon is one of the deadliest of the Plaguespreader Synchro monsters. By removing from play a Zombie monsters from either of our graveyards…" He held up Patrician of Darkness, "One card on the field is destroyed."

Despite the fact it only had one good arm, that didn't stop the Armed Dragon copy to rise up from it's spot and stomp over the Golden Homunculus. Lifting up a claw, it's metal sharpness glistening in the moonlight that was created when the Golden Homunculus and Necro Armed Dragon crashed through the roof. When it was in striking distance, the Dragon threw its arm forward, striking the massive warrior through the chest. NO facial expression could be seen, though even it was obvious that the massive warrior was in pain.

The dragon zombie then ripped the rest of it's arm through his chest, cutting the upper half of the statue from the lower half. The dragon released an echoing cackle as it stomped back to Lazarus' side of the field. Golden Homunculus exploded into pixels, leaving Jess in a stunned stupor.

"Oh, and before you get into a panic attack, I can't attack on the turn I use this effect," Lazarus explained. "However, that doesn't mean I can't use Spells and Traps to secure victory. I play Mischief of the Time Goddess, skipping the rest of my turn, your turn, the first half of my turn, and leading back to my battle phase, allowing me to attack."

"Now die."

The Necro Armed Dragon swung it's claw…

Jess watched with horror shining in her eyes as it swung down…

She screamed in agony as it struck her in the check, knocking her back and against the wall.

**(Jess: 0) - - - - - - - (Lazarus: 25)**

Jessica fell to her knees as her life point counter fell to zero. "I lost..."

"You say that like it was a surprise," Lazarus said dusting himself off and retrieving his cudgel. "Your strategies are shoddy at best, your deck does little other then impersonate a man who was a FAR greater duelist then you could ever hope to be, and your opponent was an experienced user of the Shadow Games whose been around before your grandfather was so much as a twinkle in HIS father's eyes."

The Metalmorph card in Jessica's pocket glowed as the lich came closer. This time Lazarus simply sneered. "Which reminds me..."

Waving his cudgel his robes split open as a swarm of the foul sludge like demons from before surged out. This time when the protective barrier was erected they circled around its edge and began to strike at specific areas causing it to flicker and eventually fade.

"Did you really think I'd agree to duel someone who wasnt even a Shadowchaser without an ulterior motive?" Lazarus snorted as one of the eels wrapped itself around Jessica's waist and slammed her into a wall. "While you were struggling just to stay alive my familiars were analyzing your defenses and forming a counter curse to bring it down."

He approached her slowly as he reached into the back of her jeans, causing Jess to gag loudly as the smell of decomposing flesh and death wafted into her nostrils, not to mention the fact he was touching her. Grabbing the card, he lifted it up to investigate.

"What?" he asked. "Metalmorph? What the hell is this useless card doing…here…?" He asked, pausing at the end to squint his eyes and looked over it. "These…these scratches…these etchings…can this be…?" he asked himself.

"Stop right there, vile fiend!" Boomed a loud voice that seemed to come from everywhere and yet no where. It caused Lazarus and Jess to look around in confusion. "If you wish to strike down the innocent, you must go through me in order to do so!"

"What the bloody…"

THAT was when the room was suddenly filled with sparkling, purple smoke, which made Jess begin to hack and cough violently, waving her hands in front of her face, hacking and coughing.

Lazarus, being a corpse and all, didn't need to breath, and instead looked around. "Show yourself! I don't have time for this!"

Much to both of their surprises, another hacking cough came from the hallway adjacent to them. What came from the hallway was something less than what one would expect from a wizard, and something from a washed up actor portraying a wizard.

Oh sure, he had the general appearance of a wizard, a long billow robe, long bushy beard and the pointy hat. However, the robe was torn and scotch taped in some places, entire meals seemed stuck in the beard itself, and the hat was drooping over and losing more and more glitter with every hacking cough he took. "Damn smoke…hang on…just give me a minute." He held up a hand.

Lazarus stared at the man, a deadpan expression on his face. "You must be joking."

"Oh, I'm very real, my friend!" The man said, trying to save grace by standing up a little bit taller and revealing his beer gut had had extended from him. "And if you wish to strike down the innocent in my prescence, then you must go through me in order to do so! For I am…" He held up a sparkling hand, "Humphrey the Magnificiant!"

"Oh, I get to kill TWO people today? It must be Christmas." Lazarus grinned a little as he turned to face the aforementioned Humphrey. "You're a wizard, hm? Then I'm sure you're skilled in one of the fights…" He held up his hand, which was glowing with a bright purple color.

"I accept your challenge of a wizard duel, foul one! Prepare to fight a master of the arcane arts!" Humphrey shouted, holding up one hand and reached into the satchel on his hip with the other. His hand began to glow and sparkle again. "Repulsis, Maleficus, Infernus…"

WHAM! Lazarus had been so busy watching Humphrey's pitiful attempts at casting a spell, he didn't see the sock containing the brick flying towards his head until his head snapped and rolled away from his body.

When it came to a halt, the necromancer stared at Humphrey in Disbeliefe. "…A brick? You call yourself a wizard when you hit me with a BRICK?"

"Yes, well, I call myself a wizard who knows when there's a time to fight and a time to RUN!" Humphrey sped forward and grabbed Jess, breaking the bonds of the ink like creatures and pulling her up. Before she was out of reaching distance, she grabbed the Metalmorph card from the decapitated body's hands and, with speed defying his flopping gut, both she and Humphrey vanished.

Lazarus' head let lose an echoing scream of anger that echoed throughout the otherwise quiet neighborhood.

…

The knife spun in Vladimir's hand, the blade gleaming in the darkness as a techno beat slowly built in tempo.

"Dressing all in black, from your back."

"You love your evil ways, it keeps you going for days, and for JUST ONE NIGHT YOUR GONNA"  
"Smash it up, burn it down  
Tearing up the underground  
You wanna live like a Super Villain…"

With a thunk the knife skewered the dripping raw steak on the plate in front of Vladimir before he raised the slab of blood red meat watching the juices dribble onto the table. His eyes glowed before he bared his fangs and in a single savage tearing motion ripped into the steak like a crocodile tearing into the flank of its prey.

The extreme heat inside his mouth caused the uncooked steak to sear on contact, steam wafting from between his teeth as he voraciously wolfed his meal down scrap by scrap until all that was left were the steaming juices that spattered his jacket.

Still chewing Vladimir reached for the bottle of Jack Daniels next to his boots which were propped up on the table idly smashing the tip of the spout off. "Some villains have breakdowns when things go wrong." He mused. "I get cravings."

With that he threw back his head and chugged down the whiskey as Powerman5000's 'Supervillain' continued to blare from the boombox on the floor.

If there was one thing Vladimir was known for besides his inherent brutality on and off the dueling field, it was his voracious appetite. Cigarettes, liquor, meat, he used things like this as a means to quell the cravings for bloodshed that reared its ugly head every now and then.

How long had it been since he had really been able to cut loose? To lay waste to cities, pillaging and murdering every gleeful step of the way? Vladimir was a warmonger, a wolf forced to play the part of a sheep. But soon the Sheppard's of the world wouldn't be able to touch him. He was getting close now...he could FEEL it.

His train of thought was disturbed when he heard the metallic clinking of something coming up from behind. Turning his head, he was met with a hideous sight, something out of a nightmare it seemed. It's skin was purple, a sickly purple too, with a large, egg shapd head with two beady looking eyes behind a pair of thick spectacles. Sharp, metallic claws on four arms, and three legs with metallic joints as well.

"Herr Vlad, I come bearing very bad news, I'm afraid," the creature spoke not only in perfect English, but with a distinct German accent. "But it vould zeem that…ze materials…I have been running quite low on vhat I need for your…project." All sets of claws spoke "project" in quotations.

Vlad cocked an eyebrow. "Oh come on, don't tell me that last batch is all ready DEAD. You're supposed to be a doctor, not a butcher."

"Eh, vith my species, ze terms are interchangeable. Ze concept behind zhis marvelous procedure has potential, ja, but if any are going to survive, ve need a perfect fusion."

"…In other words, you're still in the trial and error part, and need more flesh, is that it?"

The creature shrugged all of it's shoulders. "A crude vay of putting it, Herr Vlad, but accurate I suppose. But need I remind you zat time is of the essence?"

Vlad let loose a chuckle and leaned back on his chair, hands behind his head. "Don't you worry about that one, doc, if I know old Soft Scale enough, then we should have a fresh batch of what you need pretty damn soon…"

…

Gift of the Weak  
Type: Spell  
Image: Kuriboh in front of 2 glowing cards  
Effect: Remove from play 1 LV 3 or lower monster in your hand. Draw 2 cards.

_Note: Gift of the Weak was first used by Judai in the Yugioh GX Manga. All creative credit goes to the writers of that episode._

Alpha-Wave Emission  
Type: Field Spell  
Image: Virus' with a Japanese kanji sign on it  
Effect: This card is treated as a "Virus" card. All monsters on the field lose 300 ATK and cannot attack.

_Note: Alpha-Wave Emission was first used by Kaiba in the Yugioh R Manga. All creative credit goes to the writers of that episode._

Sleepy Beauty  
Type: Zombie/Dark/Effect  
LV: 1  
Attack/Defense: 0/0  
Effect: While this card is in your graveyard, all ZOMBIE-Type monsters in your hand have their LV's reduced by 1.

_Note: Sleepy Beauty was first used by Michel in a future episode of Yugioh 5D's. All creative credit goes to the writers of that episode._

Mischeif of the Time Goddess  
Type: Spell  
Image: A blue haired girl winking to the camera and holding a staff  
Effect: End the current turn, and skip to your next battlephase.

_Note: Mischief of the Time Goddess was first used by Zigfried von Schroeder in the anime episode "One Step Ahead". All creative credit goes to the writers of that episode._

Vengeful Souls  
Type: Spell  
Image: A group of screaming skull like spirits coming out of a graveyard.  
Effect: Deal damage to your opponents Life Points for each ZOMBIE-Type monster in your graveyard X 200.

_Note: Vengeful Souls was first creatred by CyberCommander and used with Permission. All creative credit goes to him._

Nightmare Rush  
Type: Trap/Continuous  
Image: Mist Archfiend and 2 Mad Archfiends rising from a dark mist and coming towards the player  
Effect: Activate this card when you have exactly 3 DARK-Type monsters with 0 DEF in your graveyard. Special Summon the selected cards to your side of the field in ATK mode. If one of the monsters leaves the field, destroy this card. When this card leaves the field, destroy all monsters Special Summoned by this effect.

Hail to the Pumpking  
Type: Spell/Continuous  
Image: Pumpking and Castle of Dark Illusions overlooking a horde of Zombie monsters.  
Effect: Activate this card only when you control "Pumpking, King of Ghosts" and "Castle of Dark Illusions" on your side of the field. During your Standby Phase, monsters gain 300 ATK when "Castle of Dark Illusions" effect activates. When "Castle of Dark Illusions" effect is finished, you may discard cards from the top of your deck equal to the number of turns passed to reset the count down. When this card is removed from the field, destroy all monsters you control.

Necro Armed Dragon  
Type: Zombie/Dark/Effect  
LV: 7  
Attack/Defense: 2800/1000  
Effect: _Plaguespreader Zombie + 1 or more Non-Tuner monsters_  
This card can only be summoned via Synchro Summon. Once per turn, you may remove a Zombie-Monster from either player's graveyard to destroy one card on the field. This card cannot attack on the turn you activate this effect.

_Note: The above 3 cards were created by Metal Overlord 2.0. All creative credit goes to him._

Field Rejection  
Type: Spell/Continuous  
Image: Several of the Flamvell monsters in the Umi field.  
Effect: Offer one monster on your side of the field as a sacrifice. Monsters you control are not effected by the effects of Field Spells.

Alchemist Scientist  
Type: Spellcaster/Light/Effect  
LV: 1  
Attack/Defense: 100/100  
Effect: When this card is removed from play, add one "Chaos Distil" from your deck to your hand.

Burning Distil  
Type: Spell  
Image: the Alchemy Beasts, burning with their respective colored elements flying towards the duelist  
Effect: Sacrifice "Alchemy Beast" monsters on your side of the field and deal damage to your opponent for each monster tribute by this effect X 800.

King's Worship  
Type: Spell  
Image: Pumpking, King of Ghosts surrounded by gold  
Effect: Activate this card only when you control "Pumpking, King of Ghosts" and "Dark Castle of Illusion" on your side of the field. Draw one card for each Zombie monster you control (except "Pumpking, King of Ghosts"). Cards drawn by this effect cannot be played this turn.

Effect Vacuum  
Type: Spell/Quick-Play  
Image: Reign-Beaux falling to one knee as his color is drained from his body  
Effect: Pay 1000 Life Points and select one face up card on the field. The selected card has its effect(s) negated until the end of the turn.

…

Whose Humphrey? What is this weird procedure of Vlads? What is this strange creature, and why does Lazarus seem so interested in the Metalmorph card? Well, hope you all can survive to wait a little long, we have a new arc that needs to be tended to next time. 14's finally found the counterfeit person, and he's taking it in his own hands. Could this explosion obsessed brit take down a whole counterfeiting scheme by himself? Find out next time in "Widespread Ruin."


	18. Widespread Ruin

Disclaimer: I do not own the Yu-Gi-Oh Franchise, nor do I intend to make money from it. I do not own the Shadowchasers, that belongs to CyberCommander. Any characters you see belong to me.

Also, thank you to Master of the Library, since Fourteen is creation, and I'm using him with his permission.

Special thanks to my Beta, Metal Overlord 2.0 for writing the opening sequence when I was dealing with the worst Writers block of my entire writing career. Thanks mate!

…

As Damian rolled up to park in front of the Shadowchasers LA headquarters all he could think of right now was how wonderful it would be to get some sleep.

"No bad jokes...no eldritch abominations...just me, my bed and forty winks baby." He mumbled trudging up the steps and fumbling for his keys.

However the second he swung the door open...

"DO YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH OR ARE YOU JUST STUPID?"

"I SAID I was sorry Angua! I was only trying to help!"

Angua and Jessica were standing nose to nose in the center of his living room while Scraps stood a few feet away scribbling something down on a pen and paper. From the direction of the kitchen came the sound of someone rummaging through the fridge.

"Ah, Master Damian, welcome home," Scraps said as Damian stood in the doorway blinking. "Sergeant Angua has been displaying a textbook example of parental concern, so I've used the opportunity to do a bit of research. Although my knowledge of some of Angua's vocabulary seems to be coming up short."

"Jessica, let me explain what 'help' means. It means NOT running out in the middle of the night without so much as a cell phone to call for help just so you can play 'action girl'. You want to leave this building you do it with at least one person as backup at ALL TIMES, do you understand me?"

"It was my own damn house Angua!" Jessica shot back. "As long as the people behind my father's death are still at large I refuse to just sit on my ass and do nothing while you guys take all the risks! Plenty of you Shadowchasers have run off by yourselves and handled things just fine, like that girl, Ember Michiko. She was around my age when she stopped the Great Deluge."

Angua's eyes turned noticeably feral around the same time Damian slapped his forehead with his hand. THAT was the wrong thing to say...

"Three things wrong with that comparison Ms. Alphonse." Angua growled as the gap between her face and Jessica's shrunk to a quarter of an inch. "One: I'm not a Shadowchaser and neither are you. But as an officer of the law I've taken enough training to be able to handle myself in a life or death situation long before I'd ever need to pick up a duel disk."

"Whereas YOU on the other hand, are not even so much as an apprentice. You have no training, no prior experience save for ONE lucky win against a Ruin Roach and the only reason were even having this conversation was because Humphrey sensed the aura the Shadow Game was giving off and came running. He had you dead to rights from start to finish."

"Two: Whatever encouraged you to leave the safety of this house was not worth the risk that anything happened to you. We still don't know what Vladimir and the other Sons are after and if you, who are incidentally our ONE solid lead to this whole mess so far, wind up dead it's going to stay that way until it's too late."

"And three: Ember Michiko only pulled off HALF of the risks she took because she had her team mates to back her up when things got bad, otherwise when she made mistakes as stupid as you have been making, she would have been a martyr instead of Jalal's poster child. This whole city is in danger and we don't have time to babysit a train wreck like you!"

Jessica jerked back as if she had been struck. Tears of anger welled up in her eyes before she wiped her face and gave Angua the fiercest glare she could muster. "You're a real bitch you know that?"

She turned and stormed past Damian before pulling a door shut with a resounding slam. The former Son of Tyranny hung his head in defeat. "...Tell me she didn't just hole up in MY room?"

"If I didn't think she could still shed some light on this mess she'd be halfway around the globe on a witness protection plan by now." Angua said the fight draining out of her as she slumped down in an armchair.

"Isn't this the part where I'm supposed to smack your nose with a newspaper and call you a bad dog? I've seen you chew out convicts with less intensity." Damian said trudging over to the couch and falling face first onto it desperately craving sleep.

"Oh stuff it, you know I hated that mother hen act as much as she did," Angua said with a sigh. "But every time I look in Jessica's eyes I seem that same disregard for common sense that gotten every amateur cop and Shadowchaser out there killed. They look at people like Ember Michiko and think 'hey if she did it so can I' and by the time they find out they can't? It's too late."

"Its times like this that I would love nothing more than to break my foot off up Jalal's ass for putting it into these kids heads that a few trading cards and a little optimism makes them invincible." She growled.

"You'd be amazed how often people tell me that."

Angua flew from the chair with a yelp as Jalal's hologram materialized behind her. "SHIT! Uh-I mean, evening Jalal." She said her face going red.

"Relax Angua; he's heard worse from me." Came Damian's muffled reply from beneath a sofa cushion.

"In your case Damian that would be an understatement," Jalal said rolling his eyes. "But I came as soon as I heard you had arrived from your excursion to Vegas. Mr. Hyde Vance filled me in on the incident with the Mirror Golem, unsettling to say the least."

"I could have lived with most of it if he had some better jokes, I suppose we should consider ourselves lucky Necro-Death wasn't released back when Battle City was still in full swing, otherwise Bakura might have been the one running around with Slifer the Sky Dragon."

"Also a disturbing thought, but I was actually referring to how increasingly well connected Vladimir's splinter cell of the Sons of Tyranny seems to be. At worst they're supposed to be supernaturally augmented thugs, not a terrorist group with connections to two of the most notorious organizations we know of."

"Jerian did mention the chick who he dueled earlier today claimed to be part of something called the House of the Howling Gale. Mind filling us in?" Angua asked.

"The Howling Gale is one of four clans that make up the greatest concentration of Yokai in the orient. Their base of operations is deep in China and they're as ruthless to us as they are to each other. The Shadowchasers have clashed several times with the Four Clans, many of them ending badly. If even one of these groups is involved with Vladimir he's being potentially backed by a virtual army of mercenaries, assassins and warlords, to say nothing of what resources he may have from any involvements with the Sons of Kyuss."

"If I may contribute something to this conversation," Scraps interjected. "After the assassin who attacked Damian the night before he left for Las Vegas was apprehended I looked up what little information there was on several of the rarer cards the assassin used and came upon a troubling discovery."

"Apparently when Honest first appeared, back in the fledgling days of the first Duel Academy its effect was only compatible with level seven or higher warrior type monsters, and not simply creatures of the Light attribute."

Jalal's brow furrowed in thought. "While the change in certain effects isnt uncommon, its supposed to make cards LESS powerful, not more so. Which means that not only is the counterfeiting operation behind Giovanni producing illegal cards-"

"They've found a way to screw with cards that have already been circulated so they have more unbalanced effects." Angua finished shaking her head. "You guys do realize that means these people might already have started refurbishing cards that were watered down from their Battle City and Duelist Kingdom incarnations right?"

Scraps nodded his head. "And perhaps cards older than those events as well, with every new generation of cards many are either banned or watered down to prevent overpowered combinations to be abused, but with that technology even common criminals would be able to create strategies the Shadowchasers would be hard pressed to survive."

"Which is why I've sent 14 to track the supply of counterfeit cards the Sons have been getting to their source. With all of you keeping Vladimir at bay I can't afford to have anything less than my best men present to handle this threat."

It was around this time that all three of them became aware of the sound of muffled snoring. Damian had long since passed out on the couch a small trickle of drool staining the pillow his face was resting on.

"...I think you're going to have to stretch the definition of 'best' for dark boy here." Angua remarked as Jalal massaged the bridge of his nose.

A loud crash came from the kitchen, alerting both the leader of the Shadowchasers and the werewolf cop as a disgruntled voice came from the kitchen. "Are you honestly telling me you have NO brandy in here! What kind of hell is this where I'm supposed to spend the rest of my night SOBER?"

"Humphrey, get out of the kitchen!"

"Then get me liquor!"

…

"Mister…Fourteen!" Shouted the pilot in question. The snappy dressed Shadowchaser looked up at the pilot, sitting in the back with his back against the wall. "We're approaching the target in question, but I've got some bad news, there's no landing space, we're going to have to circle back and find somewhere else!"

"No need for that, son." Fourteen said, his accent still as thick as he tried to emulate Sean Connery. "I never intended to have you land anyway. In fact, I think this is my stop." He stood up and grabbed one of the parachutes hanging on the wall. Walking out to the open door, he turned to the man, and gave him a quick salute. "Thanks for the ride, sport!" and leapt from the helicopter.

As he plummeted down, eyes watering as the wind buffeted his face, hair wildly flailing in the intense wind, the ground approaching dangerously close at a dangerous pace. Halfway down, he grabbed the cord and ripped it, the parachute erupting from the back on his back, and he floated down the rest of the way.

He touched ground a few minutes later, stumbling to his feet and taking the pack off of his back. He looked around, curious if someone had seen him in that not so perfect landing. First thing was first though, as he patted himself down, chest and down to make sure nothing was hurt or broken, even in a landing as slow as that. He found was he was looking for.

"Ah, there you are," he said, pulling out a cigarette from the carton and stuck it into his mouth. Lightning it, he took a quick hit and blew the smoke out of his nose. Now that he was ready, he walked off in the direction of the building in the middle of the complex.

The entire place seemed a little big for someone who was merely making counterfeit cards. It seemed like an entire industrial area. Smoke pipes, tubes, machinery and what not could be seen from all around. It looked like they were mass producing something, not just trading cards.

"Stranger and stranger," Fourteen mumbled to himself. "There's no way he needs this much equipment…must all be for a cover up." Taking another hit from his cigarette, he looked around. "And if clichés are being used here, I can assume he's gonna be in the big building in some lush chair overlooking me. Furthermore, I know you're all there, no point for a sneak attack, lads."

A loud groan could be heard from the various hiding points in the court yard, as several Orcs, ogres and familiars stepped out, bloodlust swimming in their eyes. Cracking their knuckles, they slowly approached the sharply dressed Shadowchaser. "Nobodies gonna mess with the boss while we're around…" A minotaur said as he slowly circled. "You're gonna have to get past us to get to him…"

Fourteen looked at what he was dealing with. "Lessee….thirteen….eighteen…twenty three of you? Oh really lads, that's not fair. I mean, I'm using BOTH of my hands. You lot are severely out numbered."

An Orc let out another roar and charged at him, bounding on his fists like an ape.

Fourteen sighed a little bit and rolled his sleeves up. "They always wanna do it the hard way…" He threw a punch.

…

Sowrex growled a little bit as he watched the bodies of his hired henchmen fly around, landing on the ground as unconscious lumps. Banging a hand on the arm rest of his chair, he snarled. "Lazy sons of bitches, what do I pay them for!" He shouted.

Wheeling around in his chair, he jumped back at the massive figure standing at the foot of his desk, looming over him. "GAH! Oh…T-Toguro…it's just you." He hit his chest, the jangling of many jewelry could be heard as a result. "If you're here, I can only assume Vlad has something else to whine about?"

The man looked at Sowrex behind black tinted sunglasses and spoke in a voice that was low and gravely. "Interesting choice of words for the man who's funding this entire project. Vladimir's concerned that the trail leading back to your activities may not have ended with Giovanni."

"Bah," Sowrex waved him off, "Even in death, that has-been's arms dealer's been useless. Besides, aren't you guys supposed to be making Jalal's men focus on the states by jacking up the body count for Shadowchasers?"

"For their entire shortcoming the Shadowchasers haven't lasted this long without some degree of competence. If there were any lingering records concerning the transfers of supplies between your company and Giovanni you can expect them to come knocking on your door soon."

Sowrex mulled this over nervously tapping his desk with his index finger. "Define 'soon'."

A half second later the distant sound of an explosion filtered up from the ground level outside the building. The ghost of a smirk appeared on Toguro's face. "From the sound of it, right now. Which means unless you want to explain to Vladimir why the Shadowchasers cut off our primary supply for funds and cards, I'll be assuming temporary authority here."

In spite of the situation Sowrex could not contain himself. "Temporary authority my a-"

The punch came down like the blade of a well oiled guillotine, breaking the desk in half as if it was made of toothpicks. Toguro's swollen arm slowly reverted back to normal size. "Funny...did I hear the beginnings of an argument? I couldn't tell over the racket."

"Ah-heh-heh, no, no, this is fine. So," Sowrex sweated and dabbed his forehead with a handkerchief. "What now...boss?"

Toguro turned facing the way he came. "Listen closely; I doubt there's much time before whoever's at the gate makes their way past your guards. Shift all work towards the completion of the last shipment of materials Vladimir requested and start wiring the data from your main server onto a backup drive."

"Once that's done we need to make sure the Shadowchasers believe that this operation was carried out separate from our activities in America. To do that were going to need to pull off a little...publicity stunt." Again Toguro made that small smile.

…

"Really," Fourteen sighed a little bit as he rolled his shoulder blade around in small circles, "You'd think a group like you would put up a better fight. I've seen imps give me a tougher time."

Nudging one of the orcs to make sure it really was unconscious, he nodded a little to himself. "Ah well, ya can't have a good fight all the time. Sometimes ya get the short end of the stick."

"Ahem."

Fourteen looked up at the creature clearing his throat, and turned very slowly. Standing there was another Orc, this one was actually clothed though. He was dressed very elaborately, wearing a two piece suit that one would expect a billionare to wear. On his head was a top hat, tilted a little to the side. It was standing very straight, a duel disk on his arm.

Fourteen stared a little bit for a moment. "Well," he said, "who said that Orcs can't have good taste in clothes now a days? Heh, pretty snazzy there big guy, whose head did you have to bash in to steal that?"

"I will have you know, my good man," The Orc said, his accent very French, "That these clothes were given to me by my employer. I did not, as you said, 'bash their head in'."

Fourteen's eyes widened a little bit. All of the Orcs he'd met in his time could barely string together to words together, let alone an entire sentence together.

"Ah, Je suis désolé, I forgot that I was in the presence of a Shadowchaser, so you lot obviously assume I should be eating my hat and declaring I beat your head in. Well, if it's all right with you, Monsieur, I can skip that silly phase of unintentional bigotry and just move along like gentlemen, if that would be okay with you?"

"….I'm sorry, I'm just a little shell shocked that an Orc like you is not only talking full sentences, but knows FRENCH," Fourteen said, monotone.

"Typical Shadowchaser," The orc said, rolling his eyes and shaking his head. "Can't seem to understand that not everything fits their racial agenda. I'm not going to let you pass without a decent fight, as your rules permit. So it would seem that while we COULD punch the living daylights out of each other…let's at the very least be a little civilized…" he pulled out a Duel Disk that was on his back, which Fourteen hadn't even NOTICED before, and slipped it onto his wrist. "So this would be the time when we begin the duel."

"Well…" Fourteen frowned a little bit and crossed his arms before he grabbed his own duel disk. "You just kinda took all the fun out of the whole thing…but, I suppose it's better to just cut out the middle man."

Both of their duel disks snapped into place, and both threw their arms out.

"Let's duel!" They both shouted.

**(Fourteen: 8000) - - - - - - - (Greiger: 8000)**

"I suppose you won't mind if I go first?" Fourteen asked upon drawing his card. "And what's better, I can start this off with one of my favorite combos, first by setting this card facedown…" A facedown card materialized in front of him, but was immediately met with another spell that depicted a card erupting into flames. "And I'll follow that up by playing Blasting Vein! By destroying the trap I just set, I can draw two cards."

The card suddenly erupted into flames and crumbled to ash. Fourteen drew two cards.

"What's better is that facedown card was Dormant Volcano, which, when destroyed by a card effect, not only deals my opponent 300 points of damage…" The Shadowchaser gave a small pause as a pillar of lava rose up from Greigers feet, causing the orc to grunt in pain and lift up it's hand as if to block the damage…

**(Fourteen: 8000) - - - - - - - (Greiger: 7700)**

"But during my next turn, the both of us are allowed to take a Fire monster from our decks to our hands. Trust me when I say I have plenty of those to beat you down with. For now, I'll set these two cards facedown…" Two facedown cards appeared in front of the Scottish Shadowchaser, before he held up another card. "And summon Cannon Solider in attack mode."

In front of him appeared one of the iconic machines of the game. A purple machine with a massive cannon turret mounted on its back. (1400/1300)

Fourteen crossed his arms and chuckled. "I'm afraid that's all I can do for now. I'll give it over to you."

"How kind," Greiger said as he drew his card. He had one hell of a poker face, he just stared at all of his cards with equal interest, no explicit reaction.

"For my turn," The Orc stated, "I shall set four cards facedown."

Fourteen blinked in surprise as four Spells and Traps appeared on his side of the field. Fourteen frowned and gestured immediately as they materialized, flipping one of his cards face up. "I play the spell card, Scapegoat, which gives me four Goat tokens."

In four puffs of smoke, the multicolored goats appeared, with Cannon Soldier standing in the middle of them. (0/0 X 4)

Greiger shrugged. "Yes, I'm sure you intend on using all four of those tokens to deal me damage through Cannon Soldier's effect. You use a Burn deck, I'm sure of it, how very…creative, knowing your experience with explosions."

Fourteen frowned again and crossed his arms. "And how exactly do you know of my appreciation for explosions?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out, monsieur, now I suppose all I can do is end my turn after that."

Fourteen frowned again and drew his card. Suddenly, the life size version of Dormant Volcano appeared. "As per Dormant Volcano's effect, we're both allowed to add a Fire monster from our deck to our hands." A card shot out of his deck, and he held it up for the Orc to see, declaring, "I'll choose Solar Flare Dragon for my pick."

"Tristement, I have no Fire monsters, for my deck contains nothing more than Dark monsters, I'm afraid."

"How very fitting," Fourteen said with a chuckle. "An Orc using Dark monsters." He paused after that. _My goodness, perhaps I am a bit of a bigot, aren't I?_

He shook his head fiercely. "Must stay focused. Before anything else, It looks like I'll have to clear my field a little bit. So I'll use Cannon Soldiers' effect to tribute all of my tokens and deal you some additional damage!"

Cannon Soldier pointed it's turret at Greiger, who stood there, unmoving other than spreading his legs to brace himself for the inevitable blast shooting towards him. The four tokens turned into pure energy and were sucked into the cannon. The Cannon Soldier then fired four blasts of energy at Greiger, each one striking him in the chest. Surprisingly, he didn't even more, he didn't even grunt. His teeth just grit each time.

**(Fourteen: 8000) - - - - - - - (Greiger: 5700)**

"Sacre' Blue…" Grunted the orc as he rubbed his chest. "I may be strong, but there are only so many limits…like cannon shots to my chest…"

Fourteen chuckled. "I'd shudder if I had to meet the creature who could shrug off a cannon blast straight to the chest. Now I'll continue my move with the Spell card, Charge Fusion!"

The art depicted on the spell card showed two cards forming into a single creature. "This is a bit of a useful, if not more hindered Polymerization. I can fuse together any two monsters in my hand and make one hell of a beast in exchange! So I'll fuse together my Solar Flare Dragon and my Blast Sphere…"

A long, serpentine like creature coated entirely of fire appeared on one side of the Cannon Solider, while a man sized red orb with a glowing robotic eye and huge metal pincers appeared on the other. Both monsters were sucked into the multicolored portal that appeared behind him.

"Now let's give a quick cheer for my favorite monster, my ace of spades, let's give up for…"

A massive beast landed beside Cannon Solider and gave a loud mechanical roar. The creature seemed to be made of metal than skin, colored chrome with huge red gun turrets on its shoulders. It had four arms, each one topped with three, razor sharp claws with a huge metal piece on its back. Its head looked like a combination between a triceratops and a rhino, with a huge horn in the middle of its face. It let loose another road.

"Explosive Beast Vulcannon!"

(2300/1600)

Greiger looked on, unimpressed as he crossed his arms. "I must say, I would be more impressed, had it a more impressive attack score."

Fourteen chuckled and crossed his arms. "Well I'd like to point out that it's attack score is far more impressive than the…oh wait, you don't have anything on your side of the field, now do you? Vulcannon, attack him directly!"

Vulcannon roared again and aimed his gun turrets at the orc. Almost immediately, Greiger lifted one of his many facedowns, which showed energy from an unknown being flying into a Rocket Warrior, saying, "I play my facedown card Power Gift. By discarding one card in my hand…" He held up a monster known as Shadow Delver and discarded it into his graveyard. "One monster on your side of the field gains attack equal to that monsters Attack Score, and I'll choose Vulcannon."

Fourteen's eyes widened in surprise as a Shadowy being flew into his monsters body, increasing his score even further to 3800 Attack. Guns blazing, they all struck Greiger, grunting hard and pushing him back a little bit.

"Bon seigneur, what doesn't kill me makes me stronger…"

**(Fourteen: 8000) - - - - - - - (Greiger: 1900)**

"Good lord, man!" Fourteen exclaimed. "You've basically killed myself! All I have to do is attack with my monster one time and then use its effect! You're clearly not right in the head…unless…"

"You didn't think someone of my intellect didn't have a backup plan for taking such extreme damage?" Greiger chuckled as he dusted himself off. "The damage I took was paltry in terms of what I'm going to deal to you, because I just took damage from a direct attack, I can summon this."

He placed his last card on his disk, and an intimidating figure appeared in front of him. It was a massive, blue skinned ogre like creature, carrying a large spiked club, wearing a helmet of fur and bones that went down to his mid back, and a loincloth consisting of a red leather that went around his legs. (0/0)

"When I take damage from a direct attack and you intend a second one, I'm allowed to summon my own ace monster; Ogre of the Scarlet Sorrow can be summoned from my hand, with attack and defense equal to the damage I took from the first attack.

(3800/3800)

"…Hm," Fourteen said, nodding a little bit. "I'll admit, that's…impressive all right. However, its matched in attack with my Vulcannon, so unless you want to lose your monster when you declare an attack-"

"If I may?" Greiger spoke up, "but a monster under the influence of Power Lift is immediately destroyed as soon as the opponent ends his turn. So your little issue, as you may call it, will be dealt with the second you declare that you end your turn."

"…" Fourteen was speechless, and moved his cigarette from one side of his mouth to the other. "Touché," he said begrudgingly, "I suppose I should have expected something like that, knowing my opponent…"

"It's one of the many issues Shadowchasers experience with your opponents: Short sidedness. You over estimate your opponent, and it always leads to your downfall. So I suppose if you have anything else to do, I'd suggest doing it."

Fourteen stared at the cards in his hand, and switched Cannon Soldier to defense mode, the machine kneeling down on itself. "I suppose that's all I can do," He said. The explosive beast at this point exploded into pixels.

"Marvelous," Greiger said as he drew his card. "I'll play my own drawing tool, Akashic Record. I can now draw two cards, but if at any point in this duel the two drawn cards were used, I must discard them both." He drew two cards and showed them to Fourteen, depicting a Double Summon and a second Shadow Delver. "Oh, how very lucky of me."

"I bet luck has nothing to do with it," Fourteen said, waving him off to continue his move.

"Oh very well, I suppose it's time for one of my favorite set ups." He placed a card on the field, and a hooded man appeared beside the ogre. (1500/800) "I summon Shadow Delver in attack mode."

Fourteen stroked his chin. "I believe that's a Gemini monster, is it not?"

"Something of which I'm going to remedy soon," He explained and slipped the other card in his hand. "I play Double Summon to Normal Summon again this turn. I'll normal summon Shadow Delver and treat it as an effect monster, and use its effect."

The darkness around the hooded man suddenly erupted, and its shadow rose up behind it, forming into a sinister looking demon.

"Once per turn, a Level four or lower Dark monster this turn can attack you directly. My Ogre of the Scarlet Sorrow happens to be a Dark monster, AND a Level four monster."

The fiendish looking shadow cackled and flew into the body of the Ogre, the darkness spreading to the blue skinned creature's body. It let out a roar and slammed its club in blood lust. Greiger pointed to the duelist, who took a step back. "Get him."

Fourteen saw stars for several minutes when the massive ogre leapt over to his field with frightening speed and clocked the Shadowchaser over the head with his spiked club. Fourteen wobbled around for a moment or two before he fell over, groaning weakly.

He managed to lift his head up to see what happened next, he saw the shadow belonging to the Delve slink over to his field and dove into Cannon Soldier, ripping it apart from the inside.

"Bit…intense, don't ya think?" Fourteen asked as he sat up, rubbing his head a little bit. "I think I have a concussion from a damn computer image…"

**(Fourteen: 4200) - - - - - - - (Greiger: 1900)**

"Yes, well, it's not like my monster is one to show mercy, yes?" Greiger asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "Moving right along, Shadow Delver will attack Cannon Soldier and wipe it from my sight."

Shadow Delvers shadow suddenly disappeared into the ground, reappeared behind Cannon Soldier and grabbed it, pulling it down into the ground.

"With that," Greiger said as he crossed his arms, "I'll end my turn. I do hope you'll do something soon, otherwise, this will end quite messily and boring for the both of us. Ah, cest' la vie…"

_He's right._ Fourteen thought to himself as he looked to his deck. _Either I get one hell of a good draw, I'm out of this thing in the worst ways possible! Come on, let's see some love, deck…_

He carefully drew his card, and his eyes widened a little at his brand new card. Quickly, he slapped two cards on the disk, as a facedown monster and a facedown appeared in his spell trap zone. Crossing his arms, fourteen gave the orc a wide grin, signaling he ended his turn.

Greiger stared at his opponent for a moment and drew a card quickly, quickly pointing forward. Shadow Delvers shadow immediately spiked to attention then, as he declared, "I activate Shadow Delvers effect, which-"

"Oh no you don't, my boy!" Fourteen cried in return as his facedown flipped face up. "I'll play a trap, Detonated Explosive! Now by paying 800 Life Points, your monsters effect is negated and the monster is destroyed!"

True enough; a cartoonish bomb suddenly fell in front of the Shadow Delver. Both the shadow and the fiend itself let out a gasp as it exploded, taking them both with it.

**(Fourteen: 3400) - - - - - - - (Greiger: 1900)**

"Hm," Greiger said, cocking a single eyebrow and nodding. "Very resourceful. You managed to avoid some heavy damage this turn. I approve," he nodded. "but that will not stop me from attacking! Ogre, attack his defense monster!"

The Ogre hefted his club in the air and brought it down on the defense monster. A turtle wearing a UFO for a shell appeared and exploded.

"I'm sure you know what UFO Turtle does?" Fourteen asked. "By destroying it, I can summon a Fire monster from my deck to my field, so I guess one good one would be Vanguard, yes?"

A robotic dog suddenly appeared behind him, growling a little as a fire burned behind it's eyes. (0/1600)

"Before you even think of destroying him, I should probably tell you the nasty little effect he's got," he said, "When you destroy him, you'll take 800 damage. So I'd be wary around him."

"Duly noted," Greiger said, almost sarcastically. "However, I'm afraid I must end my turn, seeing as you crippled my strategy."

"Good to know," Fourteen said with another chuckle and drew his card. "Well, since It's been two turns since I last played it, Charged Fusion is now added back to my hand."

The spell slipped out of his graveyard and back into his hand.

"Then, I shall play Pot of Avarice."

Blast Sphere, Solar Flare Dragon, Vulcannon, UFO Turtle and Cannon Soldier were all shuffled into his deck, then he drew two more cards.

"I'll switch Vanguard to defense mode, and end my turn."

_I need to pray he doesn't attack. Or even worse, get another monster with a higher defense score than Vanguard._

His breath stayed in his lungs as Greiger drew his card. He let out a sigh of relief when he not only simply set one card facedown, but also ended his turn. He drew his card and his eyes lit up.

"I summon Solar Flare Dragon!" he cried as the massive, lava covered dragon appeared in front of him. _This is perfect! Now not only will I burn him for damage every end phase, but he'll be protected by Vanguard! So unless he wants to take 800 damage, he can't attack! This is brilliant!_

Then Greiger ruined all of that.

"I'll play my trap card, Enraged Eruption." He exclaimed, hand lifting up. "Now this turn you're forced to attack."

The Shadowchasers eyes widened a little bit as Vanguard and Solar Flare Dragon lifted into their attack positions, growling loud.

_No…I've…lost…._

Then much to his confusion, Greiger continued.

"I'll then continue with my other facedowns. Astral Barrier, and Begone Knave!"

The other two traps appeared side by side, confusing Fourteen to no end.

"Why…would you…" he began. "You could have won if you just let me charge into your monsters."

Greiger rolled his eyes. "If it's anything I live by in a duel, I never force my opponents to end themselves here. It's simply not honorable to have them run blindly into my monster and lose against their whim. They will lose when they are ready to lose."

"…That's…" Fourteen said, blinking. "Honorable. I have to say, I never expected that from an Orc."

Greiger grinned a little bit and tipped his top hat. "I'm sure there's a lot about other Shadowkinds you didn't know about. We can be honorable, kind, hell, even intelligent. You just gotta stop-"

"Okay mate, I get it," Fourteen said, dead pan. "You're getting preachy now. Let's keep the dueling, eh?"

Greiger frowned a little bit and nodded. "Fine, fine, I believe you were about to attack."

Solar Flare Dragon opened it's maw and released a torrent of flames, striking Greiger. Once more, he seemed to take it as well as he could, taking a step back as a result.

**(Fourteen: 3400) - - - - - - - (Greiger: 400)**

"Now, before we continue…" Greiger said as he got his second wind. "Quite a few things happen. First, I play the trap, Shock Draw, which lets me draw a card for each one thousand Damage I just took…"

He drew his card, then pointed to another card. "Then, I'll play Damage Gate, which summons a monster from my graveyard equal to the damage I just took."

In front of the Orc and much to Fourteen's annoyance, Shadow Delver appeared. (1500/800)

"Then, to finish the combo, Begone, Knave! forces your monster back into your hand."

Solar Flare Dragon disappeared, and a card appeared in his hand. Vanguard then rushed forward and bit into Greigers knee. Since it had no attack points, the orc didn't mind it too much.

Frowning, Fourteen took one more card in his hand and placed it facedown. "One facedown card will end my turn."

"And thus my combo shall rise again." The orc said, drawing his card. "I'll take this turn and Normal Summon Shadow Delver." The Shadow Spiked with energy again and rose from the ground. "Then I'll use his ability to attack you directly, and do so right away.

The shadow encompassed the ogre again and covered it's body, causing the feral beast to roar. He rushed forward, club held high, ready for the final strike…

"Gonna have to try harder than that!" Fourteen cried, his facedown flipped up. "I play Offensive Guard! Now your direct attack is cut in half, and I can draw a card!"

A shield appeared in front of him, and though the Club crashed through it, it was obviously a lot weaker than it's intending starting point. It struck Fourteen and knocked him back though, groaning all the while. The Begone Knave! suddenly began to glow, and the ogre disappeared from the field.

**(Fourteen: 1500) - - - - - - - (Greiger: 400)**

"Now, I can attack Vanguard and simply end the duel now…but I will not settle with a simple draw, for I will not settle for anything than absolute victory. So I'll simply end my turn and finish you off next turn. Best make this move count." He said as two facedowns appeared behind him.

Fourteen gulped a little bit and drew his card, looking at it. Suddenly, an idea sparked. "Fine! I'll finish it this turn! I summon Solar Flare Dragon again!" The pyro-esque dragon appeared again. (1500/1000).

"Then I'll play my trap card, Short Stick of Dynamite! By tributing a fire type monster on my side of the field, one monster on your side of the field goes up in flames!...Literally."

Vanguard suddenly looked shrouded in molten lead and he leapt forward, tackling the Shadow Delver and forcing both to explode into pixels.

_This is it!_ Fourteen grinned. _If this goes through, I can finish this off!_

Shouting and throwing his hand forward, the Solar Flare Dragon released a wave of molten lava at Greiger…

Who quickly pointed to his facedown card. "I'll play Defense Draw."

The entire compound could hear Fourteen's shout of anger, echoing off for some distance.

Greiger cocked an eyebrow and tilted his head to the side. "now was that really necessary…?" He asked as he drew his card.

"No." Fourteen said as he adjusted himself, combing his hair back. "I'm fine, I'm calm, I'm collected…"

"I'll take your word for it," Greiger said as he drew his card. "Now, we can continue with the fact that I don't need to take damage to re-summon my Ogre…" Putting the card into his disk, the massive Blood Red Ogre appeared once again, this time its stats becoming 1500/1500. "The only downside is, since you dealt no damage, Solar Flare Dragon remains on the field."

"Which means you lost!" Fourteen laughed, pointing at Greiger. "At the end phase, he'll deal you 500 Points of damage, which is much more than you have right now!"

"There is more than one way to get rid of such a bothersome creature…" He gestured, and another of his trap cards flipped face up. "I'll play Compulsory Evacuation Device, to send your monster back to your hand."

Fourteen and Solar Flare Dragon both expressed looks of concern as chains wrapped around the Pyros body. The next minute, he was launched into the air by a contraption that appeared under him and his card appeared in Fourteens hand, who was now sweating profusely.

_I can't catch a break here…Well…thankfully I have a card in my hand that can help me last one more turn…_

"I'll end my turn by setting one card facedown," His field now barren, a facedown appeared in front of him. "I'm afraid that's all I can do."

"I'll begin my turn then," Greiger said and drew his card. He didn't bother looking at it, and instead pointed at the Shadowchaser, "With my Ogres 1500 attack, it's the perfect amount to finish you off! Ogre, prenez-le vers le bas!"

The ogre lifted his club and charged Fourteen, blood lust swimming in its eyes…

"I have one more defense, my good man!" Fourteen shouted as his final facedown flipped up, "Pyro Shield! By discarding one Pyro Monster in my hand, all battle damage done to me this turn is reduced to Zero!" He discarded Solar Flare Dragon.

A flaming shield appeared around Fourteen and he braced himself, regardless of the fact he was safe. The club crashed into the Shield, but it couldn't break through it.

Fourteen sighed a sigh of relief a he took a step back and looked up at Greiger, a cocky grin on his face. "I couldn't have done that without you mate, I didn't even have a Pyro monster in my hand. So thanks for the quick save, mate." He taunted.

Greiger looked on with an annoyed look and sighed. "Oui, impressionnant, it would seem you're really quite resilient, but do you have anything in your hand, outside of that useless Charge Fusion? Let's face it, you're doomed. However, my turn is not done."

He took another card and placed it on the field, a spell appeared beside Begone, Knave! "I play Magic Planter to destroy Begone, Knave, and permit me to draw two cards."

Vines came from the card and crushed the trap into pixels, which Greiger drew. His eyes focused on the newly drawn cards, Dimensional Prison, and Mirror Force.

_Merveilleux, there's no way I can lose now…_Both cards were placed facedown. "I end my turn on that note."

Fourteens eyes closed and he drew his card. _Oooh, I need the best draw of my career here. If you're listening up there, someone, anyone, a little help would be greatly appreciated…_He looked at the card and chuckled. _I am one lucky bastard._

"You wanna know something, you're right. Charge Fusion IS useless in this situation. So I think I'll get rid of it for something a bit more…useful."

Cocking an eyebrow, Greiger watched and crossed his arms. "Oh?"

"Yes, I'll play Fusion Replacement!" A spell appeared, depicting several Fusion monsters flying to an unspecified fusion card. "By discarding one card in my hand that has the name "Fusion" or "Polymerization" in it to the graveyard, I can take another card that has either of those names from my deck to my hand!"

He discarded the Spell card and added another from his deck, showing it to Greiger with a grin on his face. "And I'll even play it right now! Extra Fusion!"

"Extra Fusion?" Greiger asked, cocking another eyebrow. "You're fusing again? I thought you had no cards in your hand…"

"Oh, I'm not fusing from my hand…I'm fusing from my Extra Deck! With Extra Fusion, monsters in my extra deck can be the fusion material monsters for another Fusion Monster! I'll fuse together my Fire Beast Fire Bomber, and Skybomb Beast Fire Bird in my Fusion Deck…"

Behind him appeared a warrior, similar to that of Breaker, the Magical Warrior, covered from head to toe in bombs, while a phoenix made entirely out of fire appeared beside that one. Both swirled together into a single creature, shadowing Fourteen in its sheer size.

The creature was a massive, flaming bird, a phoenix, coated in black armor and dynamite strapped to its body. Its wing span was twenty feet easy, and it floated in the air with a loud, resounding screech. (2800/2300)

"To summon my best and favorite monster, Heavy Bombing Bird Bomb Phoenix!"

"Impressive, I'll give you that," Greiger said, "But demandez-vous, will you risk attacking, not knowing what my facedowns are?"

"Nope."

Fourteen blinked. "You…won't attack?"

"Nope, I don't need to, so long as I have my Phoenix. See, I can forfeit attacking this turn and in return deal you 300 damage for each card on your side of the field."

The Bomb Phoenix inhaled and craned its head back. Greigers eyes closed, head falling forward. "J'ai… échoué…"

"Bombing Phoenix, use your A-Bomb Blast!"

The Phoenix released another screech and fired a massive fireball down at Greiger. The orc was struck dead on, but this time he managed to remain standing, though he did flinch as the attack struck him.

**(Fourteen: 1500) - - - - - - - (Greiger: 0)**

The card images disappeared while Fourteen approached the unresponsive Greiger. "Now, let's not make any more of a hassle out of this than we need to. I won, you lost, let's-"

"I understand," Greiger said as he stood up, straight backed again, "I accept my defeat head held high, and will go into custody without any issue."

Fourteen stared at the Orc for a moment, hands lowering with a frown. "You're not at all like most of the scum bag shadows I encounter…and you don't seem to want to cause trouble…"

"I was merely hired, I share not in my races original blood lust."

Fourteen stared at him for a moment. He tried to sense if there was any form of lying, but he knew that if Greiger were lying, he wouldn't have bothered with the duel to begin with and struck him down right then and there. There was some formality in his voice, and no anger, only composure and calmness. Something he rarely saw now a days in all Shadows, not just one.

With a frown, he looked over his shoulder to make sure no one was watching. "Go on," he said, "Get out of here."

Greiger's eyes widened in surprise and looked down at the Shadowchaser. "What…was that?"

"I can tell if you didn't have to do this, you wouldn't want to," he said with a grumble, "I've had my experience in the past as someone who has to do what he has to do, regardless of if he wants to do it or not. I'm one to look over your acts, if there have been acts anyway…"

Greiger stared at him and looked prepared to say something, but words were lost in his throat and he gave a nod. "Shadowchaser…I thank you. But I cannot turn away from justice. I will permit you to pass, but once you are done, I will go with you to face justice."

Fourteen looked at him for a moment and nodded, patting the orc on the shoulder. "You're not like the others," he said with a chuckle, "you're actually decent."

Greiger chuckled a little himself and looked prepared to say something, when his eyes widened and he reached out, pushing Fourteen back while screaming, "Regardez dehors!"

Fourteen stumbled back as, inches from his face a massive pipe flew between it and Greiger. It slammed into the ground between them and skids, cutting a deep groove into the ground. It lifted for a moment, then came down with a heavy thud, imbedding itself in the ground.

Fourteen's eyes widened and he looked at the pipe. "This thing must weigh a hundred pounds…and it's twelve feet long! Who could lift, let alone THROW such a thing?"

Greiger gulped heavily, pupils dilating. "Oh no…I didn't know HE was here…"

"He?"

"Greiger, I'm disappointed in you," Boomed a voice that came from the direction of the main building. Both looked up to see the massive figure that Sowrex was talking to earlier. It looked like a man, in fact it was a man. His clothing was a green jacket, with a green shirt underneath, a pair of blue jeans as well. His eyes were hidden behind two sharp looking sunglasses. His hands were in his pockets as he approached them slowly, "I didn't think you would lose so easily to a Shadowchaser."

"Toguro…" Greiger gulped. For the first time, Fourteen heard a twinge of fear in the Orcs voice.

"Toguro?" Fourteen asked, finally, "Whose Toguro?"

Toguro looked over at the Shadowchaser and gave him a small smirk, a chuckle bubbling from his throat.

"Your very worst nightmare."

…

**Dormant Volcano  
Type**: Trap  
**Image**: A volcano with a snow capped top.  
**Effect**: When this card is destroyed by a card effect and sent to the graveyard, deal 300 points of damage to your opponent. During your next Standby Phase after this card was destroyed, both players add one FIRE-Type Monster from their deck to their hand.

_Note: Dormant Volcano was used by T-Bone in the anime episode "J-Dawg and T-Bone", all creative credit goes to the creators of that episode._

**Blasting Vein  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: A card erupting into flames.  
**Effect**: Destroy one facedown Spell/Trap you control. Draw two cards.

_Note: "Blasting Vein" was first used by Axel in the anime episode "Hanging with Axel". All creative credit goes to the writers of that episode._

**Power Gift  
Type**: Spell/Quick-Play  
**Image**: Rocket Warrior being charged with energy.  
**Effect**: Send One monster in your hand to the graveyard. Select one face up monster your opponent controls. The selected monster gains ATK equal to the discarded monsters ATK. During the end phase, destroy the selected monster.

_Note: Power Gift was used by Trueman in the unaired Season 4 Yugioh GX. All creative credit goes to the writers of those episodes._

**Akashic Record  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: A Dinosaur skeleton coated in diamonds and gems.  
**Effect**: Draw 2 cards and reveal them. If either of those cards have been played during the duel, they are removed from play.

_Note: Akashic Record was used by Jesse in the anime episode "The Ultimate Face-Off". All creative credit goes to the creators of that episode._

**Charge Fusion  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: Two cards from a duelists hand flying into a single being.  
**Effect**: Send, from your hand to the graveyard, Fusion Material Monsters that are listed on a Fusion Monster card, and Special Summon the monster from your extra deck. (This counts as a Fusion Summon). During your second standby Phase after this cards activation, add this card to your hand.

**Extra Fusion  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: Explosive Beast Vulcannon and Fire Beast Fire Bomber flying into an energy portal.  
**Effect**: Send, from your Extra Deck, Fusion Monster that are listed as Fusion Material Monsters that are listed on a Fusion Monster card and Special Summon that Fusion Monster card. (This is treated as a Fusion Summon)

**Explosive Beast Vulcannon  
Type**: Machine/Earth/Fusion  
**Attack/Defense**: 2300/1600  
**LV**: 6  
**Effect**: One PYRO-Type Monster + One MACHINE-Type monster  
When this card is Fusion Summoned, you can select one monster your opponent controls. Destroy this card and the selected monster and send them both to the graveyard to inflict damage to your opponent equal to the ATK of the selected monsters.

**Heavy Bombing Bird Bomb Phoenix  
Type**: Pyro/Fire/Fusion  
**Attack/Defense**: 2800/2300  
**LV**: 8  
**Effect**: One PYRO-Type monster + One MACHINE-Type Monster.  
Once per turn, you can deal damage to your opponent for each card on your opponents side of the field X 300. If you activate this effect, you cannot conduct your Battle Phase.

**Vanguard  
Type**: Pyro/Fire/Effect  
**Attack/Defense**: 0/1600  
**LV**: 4  
**Effect**: When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard, deal 800 Damage to your opponent.

_Note: the above 5 Cards were first used by Greiger in the Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds manga (Note: Explosive Beast Vulcannon and Heavy Bombing Bird Bomb Phoenix are being made into Real Cards)_

**Offensive Guard  
Type**: Trap  
**Image**: A Warrior blocking an attack from an opponent.  
**Effect**: Activate only when your opponent declares a direct attack. Halve the monsters ATK and draw one card.

_Note: Offensive Guard was first used by Nightshroud in the Unaired Season 4 Yugioh GX. All creative credit goes to the creators of that episode._

**Detonated Explosive  
Type**: Trap/Counter  
**Image**: Cannon Soldier exploding violently into parts.  
**Effect**: Activate only when your opponent activates a monster effect. Pay 800 Life Points. Negate the activation and effect of that monster and destroy it.

**Short Stick of Dynamite  
Type**: Trap  
**Image**: Six Samurai Kamon holding a very short stick of Dynamite  
**Effect**: Send one PYRO-Type monster from your side of the field to the grave. Destroy one card your opponent controls.

**Enrage Eruption  
Type**: Trap  
**Image**: Goblin Attack Force roaring angrily and charging Volcanic Doomfire  
**Effect**: Activate only when your opponent Normal Summons a monster. Your opponent must attack with all face up monsters this turn.

**Fusion Replacement  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: Several Fusion monsters flying towards an unseen Spell card.  
**Effect**: Discard one card in your hand that has "Fusion" in its name or is named "Polymerization". Add one card from your deck to your hand that has "Fusion" in its name or is named "Polymerization".

**Pyro Shield  
Type**: Trap  
**Image**: Hiita the Fire Charmer holding up her staff and conjuring a forcefield made of fire.  
**Effect**: Discard one PYRO-Type monster from your hand to the graveyard. All Battle Damage done to you this turn is reduced to 0.

…

Greiger is defeated, but now Fourteen must face against the mysterious Toguro. What secrets lay with him, can Fourteen defeat the man and finish his mission? Find out next time.


	19. Chthonian Polymer

Disclaimer: I do not own the Yu-Gi-Oh Franchise, nor do I intend to make money from it. I do not own the Shadowchasers, that belongs to CyberCommander. Any characters you see belong to me.

Also, thank you to Master of the Library, since Fourteen is creation, and I'm using him with his permission.

Before I forget, however, I did forget to give credit where credit is due. Toguro is the property of Yoshihiro Togashi, or as I'm sure most of you know him as the writer of the anime series, Yu Yu Hakusho. All creative credit goes to him.

IN addition, I would like to dedicate to my good friend, Beta, Metal Overlord 2.0 for his birthday. Happy Birthday bro, and thanks for all the awesome help you've given me so far. You haven't a clue how thankful I am.

…

The air was heavy around the three figures as they stared each other down.

One the orc, Greiger, as he backed away a little bit. Humble and strong as he may be, there was no possible way he was going to get between one of the people he was staring down. That was the equivalent of trying to stand up to a hurricane. There was no winning.

The other was the Shadowchaser, Fourteen. He stared coolly at the tall imposing figure that was Toguro, who stood above him a good a few feet at the least. He combed a hand through his greasy hair, and popped in a cigarette into his mouth and lit it, as if he wasn't staring down someone who just threw a hundred pound pipe at his head.

The final one, Toguro, stood as stoically as the Shadowchaser was. His arms were crossed, his face emotionless outside of that cocky looking smirk, he looked tall and thin, and though he didn't have that much muscle, anyone could feel there was something off about it.

"So," Fourteen said as he took a deep drag out of the cigarette and blew a puff of smoke out, "I don't know who you are, but I'm guessing since you frightened my new friend here," he gestured to Greiger, "I can only imagine you're pretty high up on the chain of command."

"You could say that," Toguro said, head craned down to look at the noticeably shorter Shadowchaser, "You could say I bullied my way to the top, really."

"Greiger," Fourteen said, never breaking the little staring contest the two were having, "Any information on this guy?"

Greiger gulped a little bit and shook his head. Standing up and dusting himself, he said, "I don't know much about Toguro, all I know is he came in earlier today, but word says he's a high ranking member of the Sons of Tyranny."

"Oooh, one of the Sons, hm?" Fourteen quiried as he stroked his chin, "I've got a friend back in Las Angeles who's hunting down your little team mates, I wonder how he would react if I managed to bring in one of the higher ups without even trying?" He chuckled. "He's flip, I should say."

Toguro stared more, remaining silent for a few more moments. "You realize, I will never be brought down by a Shadowchaser, especially one doing a very bad Sean Connery impression. If you want me, you'll have to fight me."

"Oh ho ho!" Fourteen laughed a little bit as he grabbed his cigarette and flicked it off to the side, the grin spreading across his face. "So it's a fight you want? I gotta say boy, the bigger they are, the harder they fall, so its you're funeral!" He pulled his hands into a boxing position, in front of his mouth and staring him down.

Toguro watched for a second before he shrugged, grabbing his green jacket and throwing it off to the side. He then grabbed his hands flexed, grunting. Something then happened. Toguros muscles EXPANDED outward, stretching his skin and giving him bulging biceps and everything. He almost doubled his size!

Fourteen's eyes widened, pupils shrinking. He took a step back. "…Greiger…?"

Greiger was just as surprised. "Now that you DO mention it, I think someone said Toguro is…half Demon…"

"Oh…piss."

Toguro lifted a fist into the air and brought it down directly on top of Fourteen. He leapt out of the way as the fist buried itself into the concrete, Fourteen surprised at the strength. As he landed, he leapt at him with his leg lifted, aiming towards his head.

Toguro reached out and grabbed the Shadowchaser by the ankle. As he dangled in the half demons grasp, he struggled, slamming his other foot into the wrist. For all the good it did, he might as well had kicked a brick wall. Toguro merely flicked him off to the side, sending him skidding against the ground and landing in a heap.

"Ow…" The Shadowchaser groaned as he rubbed the side of his head, his entire body throbbing in pain. "Mmkay…looks like I'll have to step up my A-game." He picked himself up and cracked his knuckles, followed by his neck. He then ran towards Toguro as fast as he could.

Toguro watched and threw a punch when he was within range. Thankfully, the Shadowchaser was quicker than originally thought and only barely managed to avoid the blow by kicking off to the side. Now that he had an opening, he leapt into the air and swung another kick at the brutes head. He connected and managed to twist it a little, but he didn't seem to mind all that well. Instead, once the kick landed, he swung a backhand at the Shadowchaser, who was once more thrown a ways away, landing on his back and coughing.

"You're putting up more of a fight than I expected," Toguro complimented as he cracked his neck back into place, "Here I thought Shadowchasers focused more on dueling."

"We do," Fourteen chuckled as he sat up and spat out some blood, standing up, wobbling a little bit, "But you must understand, sometimes card games just don't do it, we have to be nice and physical for when the going gets tough."

"I can respect that," Toguro said, "So if you'll just stay still, I'll try to make this as painless as possible." Once more, lifting his fist up into the air…

Fourteen immediately took to moving and slid down between Toguro's legs, hearing the resounding boom Toguro's fist made into the ground. Fourteen jumped to his feet and began to run in the opposite direction, intent on getting away, not from Toguro, but something else.

The half-demon turned to watch the fleeing Shadowchaser. Frowning, he began to walk towards him, intent on maybe catching him when a faint beeping sound caught his attention. Looking down, he saw a disk shaped metal object between his legs. A flashing red light on the top of it.

A bomb.

He barely had time to frown before it exploded violently, shrouding the massive figure and a good portion of the battle field. Greiger watched as he hid behind a piece of heavy machinery, looking over in surprise.

"Bon Seigneur…" He whispered as he stepped out. Fourteen walked out beside him, chuckling.

"Well, my experiences have taught me anything, it's when something can't be beat by conventional means, an explosion is bound to do some damage. I run by my motto after all," Fourteen chuckled, "When dignity is thrown out the window, fight dirty."

"You realize he's not down, Mosier," Greiger said, "Toguro is a far stronger being than that, and something like a bomb won't stop him."

To emphasize this, the massive form of Toguro was seen through the billowing smoke, and finally he stepped out, not even a single scratch on him. "Hm," He said in a bored tone, "I'll admit, I didn't expect that. You're a sneaky one, that's for damn sure."

"Oh…bugger," Fourteen mumbled as he and Greiger began to back away. "If even my explosives can't take him down…I don't think I can win this one."

"It has been a pleasure knowing you then, my friend," Greiger said. Fourteen gulped even further as Toguro backhanded him away with a single swipe of his head, scattering the two into two different places. Fourteen groaned a little bit as he laid on the ground, Toguro began to walk over to him, every step shaking the ground as he did. Walking over to the fallen Shadowchaser, and lifted his foot…

When suddenly a voice crackled to life in his ear. "Toguro!" Screamed the familiar voice of Vlad.

Toguro stopped in mid swing, frowning a little bit. "Vlad," he said aloud, causing the nearly crushed Shadowchaser to blink in surprise. "What is it?"

"Did you happen to forget those very specific instructions I gave you before sending you to check on my partner in crime? You know, the one where I told you to specifically bring back any Shadowchaser you came across ALIVE?"

"To be fair boss, it's hard to remember anything when I just took a C4 Charge to my-"

"Granted, but remember: above all else, we have to make it seem like chubby's on his own. If we start racking up the body count, Jalal's just going to send more men out here to investigate, and we need this to be an open and shut case to get some breathing room."

"Understood."

"Good, now scrape our friend off the pavement slap the toys I gave you along with your new deck. The doc's running low on guinea pigs, so if you can bring him in alive, you're looking at double the bounty I'm offering, got it?"

Toguro nodded and merely reached down, grabbing Fourteen by the scruff of his shirt, standing him up. The Shadowchaser groaned in confusion before he looked around, wondering if he was in either heaven or hell. He turned around and, with wide eyes saw the imposing form of Toguro mere inches behind him.

"Relax," he boomed down to him, "Turns out I'm feeling in more of a generous mood than I figured I was. So I'm going to let you live…"

"Hoo…ray…" Fourteen coughed up some blood. "Good for me, living another day…"

"That's not to say you're off the hook," Grumbled the Half Demon. "Oh no, you and me aren't done, not by a long shot. See, I still have plans for you, so we're going to go about this the honorable way you lot seem to adhere to: With a duel."

Fourteen frowned a little. "Why on earth would you suggest a duel when you could easily just…I don't know…kill me right here and now?"

"I have my reasons: Now will you either duel me and leave with your life, or will you continue to fight fruitlessly against me until I just snap your neck when I get bored?"

"Well, I rather like living…" Fourteen mused to himself. "But…fine, if I win, I'm taking you in under arrest."

Toguro shrugged as if the prospect of being arrested didn't bother him. As Fourteen pulled out his Duel Disk and forced it on his wrist, Toguro did the same with his own Duel Disk, pulling it seemingly out of no where and placing a deck in the holder. It gave off an awful aura that the Shadowchaser didn't like in the least.

As the duel disks began to shuffle the cards, Fourteen stared down Toguro. Finally, they were done, and both snatched off the top five cards from their deck.

"Let's duel!" Only Fourteen screamed.

**(Fourteen: 8000) - - - - - - - (Toguro: 8000)**

"I'll you'll be so kind, I shall go first," Toguro said, drawing his card and looking at it out of the corner of his eye. "I'll summon Sangan in attack mode."

In a pink puff of smoke, one of the most well known monsters in the entire game appeared, the brown and furry ball of fur with three eyes and green claws, grinning and licking its fangs at Fourteen. (1000/600)

"To end my turn, one facedown will follow suit." A facedown appeared behind the fiend monster, and he ended his turn.

Fourteen watched in mild confusion, "Knowing how you work, I'm surprised I'm not facing an army of overwhelmingly strong monsters."

"Patience is a virtue for those who are willing to use it," Toguro said with a shrug.

Fourteen drew his card, eyes glinting. _Oh, this is perfect. I have Short Stick of Dynamite in this hand. That so I can burn him for 1000 and get rid of anything big he may summon next turn._

"I'll summon Solar Flare Dragon in attack position, lad." In front of him from a pool of lava appeared the serpentine lava dragon, hissing as it bared his fangs at the fiend. (1500/1000)

"Attack Sangan!" Immediately, it released a fireball from its open maw which struck the furry fiend. It burst into flames and screamed for a moment in agony until it totally burned to a mere pile of ashes.

"I really should thank you," Toguro said, "A mere five hundred life points is nothing to set up my combo. By destroying Sangan, two things will happen, first I'll activate my trap card, Hero Signal."

_Hero Signal?_ Fourteen asked in surprise as the sky darkened considerably, and the stylized H appeared high in the air. _He's using an Elemental Hero deck? That's…rather random, I'll admit.._

"With its effect, I shall summon Elemental Hero Wildheart in attack mode." He said, a tall, dark skinned warrior carrying a massive bone sword with tattoos covering his body appeared. (1500/1600)

"And now with Sangan's effect, I'll take Elemental Hero Avian from my deck to my hand." A card stuck out from his deck and he added it to his hand, showing it to the Shadowchaser that it was the green feathered Hero.

Fourteen stared at him for a moment. "You know, I'm going to admit, when I look at you I don't exactly see Elemental Heroes…"

Toguro didn't say a word; he stood there silently and waited for it to be his turn.

"Fine, fine, I try to give witty banter and it's lost on everyone today," Fourteen sighed and shook his head. "All I can do is end my turn now."

The Solar Flare Dragon inhaled and fired a ball of lava directly at Toguro, who took it straight to the chest and didn't even more.

**(Fourteen: 8000) - - - - - - - (Toguro: 7000)**

Toguro immediately drew his card and smirked a little. "I'll play the spell card…"

_Here it comes…_Fourteen thought to himself. _Second that fusion monster comes out, I play Short Stick of Dynamite and clear the way for another direct attack next turn._

"…Dark Fusion."

"…What." Fourteen said flatly.

The sinister looking spell card appeared in front of him, and a black portal followed shortly after. Elemental Hero Avian and Wildheart both screamed as they burst into black flames, sucked into the portal as much larger collaboration of flame stepped out, only separated as a massive pair of metal wings appeared from behind it. Its skin was brown and laden with tattoos, a mask over his face with unmanageable hair. (1900/2300)

"I'll also have you know," Toguro continued as the new creature (whatever this thing was, it wasn't a hero that was for sure), "that when Evil Hero Wild Cyclone was summoned with Dark Fusion, you can't use cards that target him. Not to mention, when he does attack, you can't activate Spells and traps."

Fourteen was still stunned silent on the revelation that thing that not only had Dark Fusion, but an Evil hero as well. That only meant he had the others, and it didn't mean he had to be a Shadowchaser to know this was rather impossible.

"Evil Hero Wild Cyclone," Toguro boomed, "Attack Solar Flare Dragon with Centrifugal Cyclone Slash."

Wild Cyclone's eyes glow bright red for a split second before he rushed forward and held his hand out, generating a blade made out of pure air. He swiped at Solar Flare Dragon one time, which seemingly did nothing. The head of the dragon finally fell from the rest of its body, melting into another puddle of lava, the body following shortly after.

**(Fourteen: 7600) - - - - - - - (Toguro: 7000)**

"Not only that, but now your facedown will be destroyed by his effect," Toguro said, pointing to his facedown. Wild Cyclone gestured and a massive tornado suddenly crashed down to the ground from the sky, smashing Fourteen's facedown to a million pieces.

"How…" Fourteen finally asked, finding his voice and gulping, "How on earth do you have the Evil Heroes?"

"Well, truth be told, I shouldn't," Toguro said, "But what can I say, Sowrex is one hell of a counterfeiter, you have to give him credit for at least this." He held up his duel disk to emphasis this, "But trust me when I say this isn't the worse he can do, and I have no intention of letting you stop what he has planned. So let's continue the duel."

He looked at his hand for another moment and placed two more cards facedown. "With these two facedown cards, my turn ends, Shadowchaser."

Fourteen drew his card and looked at them. _No need to panic. Just because he's using cards that he likely shouldn't have doesn't mean I can't beat him!_ "You're not the only one who can fuse, big guy! I play Charge Fusion!"

The spell appeared on the field, and he held up two cards in his hand, flipping them around. "I'll fuse together my Giga-Tech Wolf and Vanguard to fusion summon Vulcan Wolf!"

The two monsters, both canine in appeared, only the other one a wolf with mechanized enhancements appeared and were sucked into a portal as before. From the portal stepped a Bipedal wolf with gun metal grey fur and rows of dynamite tied around his chest. The monster howled loudly. (2400/2000)

"Now I could attack you and do a little damage, but I have a better idea and use Vulcan Wolf's effect! By skipping my battle phase this turn, I can destroy up to 2 Spells or Traps you have, and deal you 500 Damage for each one!"

Vulcan Wolf pulled off two sticks of the explosive and breathed a little fire onto each wick. He threw them up into the air, wicks burning very quickly. They landed directly on Toguros two facedown cards and exploded violently. Toguro didn't even flinch.

**(Fourteen: 7600) - - - - - - - (Toguro: 6000)**

"Not that much of a loss," Toguro said as one of the traps materialized on the field again, depicting the image of a fallen Elemental Hero Flame Wingman, with a shadowy figure lurking over the body, "For by destroying my trap ca rd, Hidden Darkness, I'm allowed to add a Dark Fusion from my graveyard back into my hand."

_Okay, I'll admit, this guy IS good…_Fourteen said, _I just have to really hope that he can't fuse anything with his current hand that can beat Vulcan Wolf._

"Fine, you may have Dark Fusion back, but I'm not worried," he said as a facedown appeared behind the bipedal wolf, "Because I'll just end my turn. Now bring it on!"

"Hm, you're either quite brave or insanely suicidal," Toguro said, drawing his card. "I'm not one for passing up someone's wish to die. I'll play De-Fusion."

Wild Cyclone turned a bright white before his body was ripped apart, revealing Elemental Hero Avian and Wildheart back on the field, both in attack mode. (1000/1000) (1500/1600)

"Now I'll play Dark Fusion once again!" The Dark Fusion spell appeared on the field behind Wildheart again. "I'll summon someone new this time, fusing together Wildheart and Evil Hero Malicious Edge."

Beside Wildheart appeared a corrupt hero, he looked like an evil version of the Marvel Hero, Wolverine, dark armor, a spiked helmet and long, long claws on his hand.

"Come forth from the depths of Darkness, Evil Hero Serrated Blade."

Wildheart once more burst into black flames, screaming all the while as they echoed about the battled field, before it was sucked into Malicious Blade. The fiend grunted a little bit and hunched over, his muscles bulging, as armor burst forth from his skin and formed a carapace over his body, two massive scythes erupting from his arms, finishing off with a sharp, stainless steel helmet growing over his head. (2600/2300)

"Oh….bollocks." Fourteen said, slumping over. Of course this would happen.

"Serrated Blade, take down his Vulcan Wolf!" Toguro ordered. Serrated Blade nodded and lifted the massive, impossible to lift blade up into the air and swung it down, not even moving from his spot as he did so. Vulcan Wolf howled in agony as the jagged blade cut into his shoulder and ripped his arm clean off, falling to his knees before he exploded into pixels.

When Fourteen looked up again, Serrated Blade had somehow teleported directly in front of him, staring him down with the cold, red, unfeeling eyes. Lifting his blade again up in the air…

"When Serrated Blade destroys a monster as a result of battle," Toguro explained, "The owner of that monster loses 200 Life Points for each level it had. I suggest you brave yourself…' A small smirk crossed the half demons face, "It's going to hurt."

Fourteen never had a chance to brace himself as the massive sword was plunged directly into his chest. Fourteen screamed as some sort of pain coursed through his body, making him think that even for a second this was likely to be a Shadow game. Wouldn't be the first time, but sometimes the pain was all too much for him to take.

Serrated Blade pulled his blade from the Scottish Shadowchaser, who fell to his knees, coughing and shaking a little bit. He barely had time to look up to see Avian rushing towards him and delivered a brutal uppercut to his chin, knocking him off his knees and on his back, groaning all the while in pain.

**(Fourteen: 5000) - - - - - - - (Toguro: 6000)**

Toguro grunted a little bit, his smirk disappearing from his face. "I have to say, I heard that you Shadowchasers were at the very least made of…stronger substance. If you cannot even take that pain, then this duel will be very disappointing…do you honestly think you can survive another blow like that?"

Fourteen released a small groan from his position and picked himself up, wiping his mouth with his sleeve before he picked himself up, "Let me ask a question of my own: Do you own a copy of Obelisk the Tormenter, in your deck?"

Toguro didn't answer at first, "I'm sure if I had an Egyptian god in my deck, you would have seen me play it."

Fourteen nodded, "I thought so, well in that case I wouldn't get your hopes up for seeing me break more than a sweat unless you have a monster of that fire power." He stood up, a little on the wobbly side, and grinned that cocky grin at him. "So I suggest you try a little harder."

Toguro narrowed his eyes behind his glasses. "Since I don't have anymore card in my hand, I'm allowed to activate Aurora Draw." The spell appeared, "Which, when I have an empty hand, I can draw two cards."

He did so, adding them to his hand without another word. "That ends my turn."

"Draw!" Fourteen shouted, drawing another card. He grinned as he looked at it. "You're not the only one with a draw engine, I'll play Card of Demise to draw a full hand!"

He drew four cards from his deck, as massive number 5 appeared above his head. He groaned, he hated this feature. "The bad part, I lose all the cards in my hand on my fifth turn after playing this card, but that's not for a while now is it? I'll set one card facedown, and one monster facedown!"

A new line of defense appeared in front of him, and a facedown appeared behind that. "That'll end my turn, big guy! Let's see what you got!" The massive five over him suddenly blipped down to a four.

Toguro drew a card. "You've got spunk, Shadowchaser, I'm going to admit that. However, spunk can only get you so far, like so: Serrated Blade, attack his defense monster!"

Once more the massive blade was lifted high into the air and brought down on the defense monster. This time, however, the attack struck but the monster didn't explode. Rather, the massive red sphere flew forward and locked its claws around the armored body of Serrated Blade. The Evil hero grunted and struggled to get the obstruction off, but to no avail, the sphere was stuck tight.

"Blast Sphere is a favorite of mine for a reason, mate," He said cockily, crossing his arms, "Because next turn, that big brute is going to get blown to smithereens and take out a healthy little chunk of your life points with it."

Toguro stared at him before he chuckled. "Clever…but just so you know, I can take the damage just as well as you can…" He gestured and Avian suddenly knelt down in defense mode. "I'll end my turn by setting down another card facedown."

"Draw!" Fourteen shouted and looked at the card for a moment. "First thing's first, since it's been 2 turns since I last played it, I can add Charge Fusion from my graveyard to my hand." He did so, and took another card, slapping it on the disk, shouting "Cannon Soldier, let's do this!" The bipedal cannon appeared, aiming its cannon at Toguro. (1400/1000). "Attack Avian!"

The cannon aimed at the winged hero, firing its blast and shattering him into a dozen little pieces. Toguro grunted.

"Well, that was easier than I thought…" Fourteen mused as he cleaned his jacket off for a moment. "Now I'll set one more card facedown and end my turn. That means the second after you draw, you'll lose your monster and a good chunk of-"

"I know how your monster works," Toguro said as he drew another card. "You just don't me, I don't need to be reminded."

The ticking time bomb on the chest of the armored hero began to beep even faster, and faster, until finally it exploded rather violently, shrouding all of Toguros field in a plume of smoke.

"Oooh, that was a good one," Fourteen said with a grin, one hand sliding into his pocket. "Times like this I can admire my handiwork…even if it wasn't my own…"

Toguros figure could be seen through the smoke as it slowly went away. His field was now somewhat barren, save for the facedown. The giant 4 over Foureen's head, now that he could see, had turned to a 3.

**(Fourteen: 5000) - - - - - - - (Toguro: 3400)**

"I should thank you though," Toguro said, "With him in my graveyard, it's far easier to use this." He placed the new spell into his disk, "I'll play Dark Calling."

"Oh come on!"

Another dark purple portal appeared behind him, this one holding up the sinister figures of both Evil Hero Malicious Edge and Serrated Blade before being sucked into the portal. Rather than something stepping out, something FLEW out of it, its loud cackling echoing around the otherwise empty battle field. It landed on one of the higher spires overlooking the two of them, a clawed hand with enormous talons, tight leather encasing its entire body, sharp, almost blade like dreadlocks atop its masked head. It cackled again, echoing once more. (3500/2100)

"Evil Hero Malicious Fiend, one of the strongest heroes in the game," Toguro said, deadpan and emotionless as always, "And he's about to send all that damage onto you. Malicious Fiend, rend Cannon Soldier apart."

Lifting up its thin arm, the Evil Hero flew across the field and swiped at Cannon Soldier with his claws. Cannon Soldier stood there with three very heavy grooves now cut through his head down to the midsection before blowing up violently.

**(Fourteen: 2900) - - - - - - - - (Toguro: 3400)**

"I'm sure you know of my monsters effect as well," Toguro explained as he waved his hand, signaling the end of his turn. "Now with him on the field, should you choose to enter your Battle Phase, all of your monsters will be moved to Attack mode, and forced to attack him. Essentially, you'll be in a suicide charge, should you get cocky."

"There's one little issue with that," Fourteen said as he drew his card, "That's if I CHOOSE to conduct my Battle Phase, I'll play Scapegoat!"

In four puffs of pink smoke, the four tokens appeared. (0/0 X 4)

"That should make a decent shield until I can figure out how to destroy your monster safely…"

"A pitiful shield at best, I should add." Toguro said, "Someone of your caliber sent running that easily, how sad."

"A man knows when they need to take the defensive," Fourteen said, grinning, "Cause when they go back on the offensive, it's gonna hit and hit hard! I set one card facedown and end my turn!"

Drawing a card, he took his newly drawn card and slipped it into his disk, "I set one card, and have Malicious Fiend attack one of your monsters."

Once more, Malicious Fiend flew forward and sliced one of the tokens into ribbons, leaving only the other three.

"I should thank you for the Target practice though, I end my turn."

Fourteen didn't say a word as he drew a card and immediately placed a defense monster on the field. He looked like he was thinking, like he was planning on something. "I end my turn," was all he said.

Toguro drew a card and looked at it, stating, "I summon Evil Hero Infernal Gainer in attack mode."

A black orb of energy appeared beside Malicious Fiend, heavily armored with bone spikes sticking out from his helmet and shoulder pads, a long, armored tail snapping behind him and with large, sharp claws. (1600/0)

"Now I'll use his effect. By removing him from play Malicious Fiend gets the ability to attack twice this turn."

Infernal Gainer gave Fourteen a wicked grin before he dissolved into fragments of black light, all of which flew into the much larger Evil Hero. Malicious Fiend grinned and laughed as a new aura of darkness surrounded his body.

"Now I'll use the first attack to destroy your facedown monster." Malicious Fiend flew through the air and stabbed his claws into the facedown card. UFO Turtle appeared on top of it and exploded violently into flames. Fourteen gestured, and another UFO Turtle appeared on the field. (1400/1100)

Toguro chuckled, a small smirk spreading over his face. "If you're that anxious to lose, then so be it. End him!"

Malicious Fiend, having not moved from his spot, swung his claws down on the metal encased turtle, rending it to pieces. At that moment, Fourteen's facedown lifted up.

"I play Pyro Shield! By discarding my Solar Flare Dragon…" He discarded the aforementioned card to the graveyard, "All damage I take this turn is reduced to zero. Not only that, but I'll use UFO Turtles effect to summon Vanguard in attack mode!"

The armored, snarling dog appeared beside the other three Sheep tokens, snarling loudly. (0/1600)

Toguro scowled. "So you managed to survive a little bit longer, the same could be said about cockroaches. I'll set one more card facedown, and end my turn."

Fourteen looked at his deck and gulped. _All down to this. If I don't get something to do here, I'll be a little bit on the screwed side. I'm gonna lose all the cards in my hand the second I end my turn, so I better be able to do something this turn._ He drew his card and looked at the spell. With a grin, he played it.

"I play the spell card, Rubber Soles! I can select one card on my side of the field, and return it to my hand. I'll do so with my Vanguard."

Vanguard vanished from the field, and a card reappeared in his hand.

"Now I'll play Charge Fusion again! I'll fuse together my Roar Vulcan and my Vanguard…" The two monsters appeared beside each other and were sucked into the portal. Out stepped Fourteen's favorite monster, Explosive Beast Vulcannon. (2300/1600)

"Now's the time I can use his effect! By sacrificing him when I fusion summon him successfully, one monster on your side of the field is destroyed and you'll take damage equal to its attack!" Explosive Beast Vulcannon suddenly turned bright red and orange, similar to that of magma and flew at the hero. "So I think this is the end, buddy!"

"I think not," Toguro gestured, and his facedown trap flipped face up. "I play Fusion Guard. By taking a Fusion monster in my Fusion deck and sending it to the graveyard, all effect damage done to me this turn is reduced to 0."

He held up Evil Hero Inferno Wing, and a green barrier appeared around him. The two monsters clashed and exploded violently in a mini-nuclear explosion. Toguro didn't even budge as it happened a few feet away from him.

_Oh…come on, I was so close…_

"Well, at least I got rid of that Eye-sore…" Fourteen tried to reassure himself. However, as the smoke cleared, he did NOT like that evil little smirk that was now on the half demons face. "I…have a feeling the worst is yet to come, however."

"Smart one, aren't you?" He chuckled.

"Well…I suppose I end my turn then…." He frowned and discarded the remainder of his hand. So much for that plan.

"Then I draw," Toguro drew a card and placed it on the field. "I summon Elemental Hero Stratos in attack mode." A muscular hero appeared, this one wearing bright blue armor, a blue visor over his face and two massive fans on his back. (1800/300). "Then, I'll use his effect to add any Elemental Hero from my deck to my hand…" he held up Sparkman. "And use him to attack one of your remaining tokens."

Stratos held up a hand at one of the remaining tokens. A miniature tornado sprung from his palm and tore the token to pieces.

"I end my turn."

_He's setting up for something._ Fourteen said as he drew a card. _I don't know what it is, but I have a very strong feeling I'm not going to like it at ALL._ He looked at the trap. _Thankfully, I can use this to buy me a little bit more time. After that…well, I just have to hope, now don't I?_

"I set one card facedown, and I'm afraid that's all I can do…"

"Hm," Toguro drew another card, sweeping his hands, "by the effect of Infernal Gainer, he returns to my field during the Second Standby Phase of which I used his effect."

The heavily armored fiend appeared beside Stratos, an evil little smirk on his face. (1600/0)

"Now, I'll normal summon Elemental Hero Sparkman."

In a flash of lightning and a bolt of lightning falling from the sky, a very familiar hero appeared. Wearing bright blue and gold armor, with the massive helmet on his head appeared Sparkman, a bolt of lightning all ready forming in his hand. (1600/1400)

"Now, I believe I'll finish you off this turn by playing my second copy of Dark Calling."

Beside Sparkman appeared an Evil Hero, very feminine in appearance, a latex red dress clinging to her body, horrific looking demonic wings and over sized claws appeared, giving off an evil of general wrongness. Sparkman looked at her in surprise before Inferno Wing reached out and grasped Sparkman by the head. Try as he might, struggle as he did, he couldn't break the grip of the Evil Hero before both of them were pulled into the Shadows that formed behind them.

There was no silence for the next few moments, worrying Fourteen to no end before something DID step out. It made no sound, no sign of emotion or life whatsoever, it was a gaunt, wraith like monster with massive spiked bat wings, hideously enlarged talons and fangs (The only thing noticeable from the pure black visor covering half its face), with skin that seemed to be a fusion of skin and barbed leather.

It stood there, an aura of pure evil emanating from it.

"Meet Evil Her Nosferatu Wingman."

(2500/2100)

"Oh….crap, I've never even heard of this one," Gulped Fourteen.

"Hm, not many have," he said, "There are some tale that this hero was far darker than the previous ones, one that even the Supreme King could not hope to tame, even with his powers. I, on the other hand, am an entirely different story. I use Infernal Gainers effect."

Once more, Infernal Gainer erupted into pixels, all of which were sucked into Nosferatu Wingman. Once more, there was no notion that he knew what had happened, or if he even cared.

"Stratos will begin the charge, by destroying one of your remaining tokens." Once more, another tornado ripped apart one of the remaining tokens, leaving Fourteen with only one final monster as a shield. He looked over at Nosferatu, who merely continued to stand there. And he didn't like that.

"Now Nosferatu, attack his remaining token."

Nosferatu didn't as much move as he did teleport over in front of the Token, who continued to smile blissfully, unaware of its near end. Nosferatu lifted his wings and shrouded the two of them behind them. Whatever happeed behind the wings, Fourteen was surely glad he didn't see anything.

However, he felt something in his chest when it did. It grew until it was a near blinding pain, before he finally shouted. Looking down, he saw the arm of Nosferatu now sticking through his chest, face inches from his. He shuddered as he forced his arm from his chest, causing the Shadowchaser to fall to his knees.

"What…what the…hell…" He shuddered.

"Nosferatu's effect is quite deadly, both physically and in the game. Not only does he deal damage through defense, but any damage he inflicts, he gains in attack points."

Nosferatu stood there in front of Fourteen. Another black burst of energy erupted from his body, nearly violently. He rose quickly to 5000 Attack Points.

"What's better, he can attack twice, thanks to Infernal Gainer. Nosferatu, finish him."

Nosferatu lifted his taloned hand, and was prepared to strike when Fourteen, almost desperately, screamed, "I activate Defense Draw! I'm safe for this turn!"

A barrier appeared around him which deflected Nosferatu Wingman's attack. The fiend frowned and disappeared, reappearing in front of Toguro.

"So you manage to live one more turn," Toguro said, with a frown. "I've seen miracles come from dimmer situations, so I suppose we'll see…" he chuckled. "But I'm not holding my breath."

"Hm…" Looking at the final card in his hand, the one which he drew from Defense Draw, he smirked. Well, lady luck was being one kind woman today, wasn't she?

"Sad to say, my good friend," he said, "But I believe I've won. Now if you'll be kind and just end your turn…"

Toguro frowned. He honestly had to say this. "Fine, fine, I'll end my turn."

"Then let's finish this!" He drew his card and didn't even bother to look at it or add Charge Fusion back into his hand. "I'll play Polygrave!"

A new spell card appeared on the field, this one depicting three roaring Blue Eyes White Dragons flying from an open grave, with a skeletal Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon laying at the bottom.

"TO play this card, I have to pay half of my life points, but I get to remove from play Fusion Material Monsters from my graveyard from play, and summon the Fusion monster from my graveyard!"

He held up both copies of Roar Vulcan and Vanguard, as a massive hole in the ground formed before him. In the middle was a swirling rainbow vortex, from which a massive figure leapt up. Explosive Beast Vulcannon landed with a heavy thud in front of Fourteen, but most of its body was rotten or rusty, and one of its eyes was missing. (2300/1600) - (1150/800)

"However, why do I have this thing in my deck?" he chuckled. "It counts as a Fusion Summon. And guess what Vulcannon does best when Fusion Summoned?"

Vulcannons decaying form once more turned to bright orange, like Magma. Toguro's eyes widened a little bit behind his glasses.

"Well I'll be damned…" he mumbled. He watched as Vulcannon flew directly at Nosferatu Wingman, and once they collided, exploded once more in a small nuclear explosion. This one was enough to force Toguro to drive his foot into the ground to keep from falling back.

"And I believe that…is that."

**(Fourteen: 200) - - - - - - - (Toguro: 0)**

"My goodness…" Greiger whispered as he watched from the sidelines. Someone had managed to defeat Toguro? That was nearly unheard of! Toguro stood there, deactivating his duel disk and did not move. Fourteen did the same, and cautiously walked over to him.

"Right then…" Fourteen said slowly, narrowing his eyes at the half demon and keeping his guard up. "I believe…I won. And that means I get to take you in."

Toguro stared at him for a moment. He lifted up his arms, to which Fourteen flinched…and held his wrists in front of him.

"I'm not without honor, Shadowchaser." He said, monotone, "I know when I've lost, and I'm willing to keep my end of the bargain. That was a good duel, you showed much strength."

Fourteen stared at him for another few moments before reaching into his pockets, "Well, I'm glad you decided to see it my way. You're not too bad yourself, I…" he blinked. Patting down his pockets, he slapped his forehead. "I don't have my teleportation gem…"

Toguro and Greiger stared athim for a moment. "Are you sure I'm a Shadowchaser?" Greiger asked.

"Oy!" he shouted. "I'll have you know I'm very respected where I come from! It's just I must have forgotten it back on the plane is all." He grumbled and kicked the ground. "Looks like I'll have to take you in the old fashioned way. I'm going to go take care of your boss, in the mean time, don't move a MUSCLE." He said, poking Toguro in the chest. Before he could argue, he rushed over to the building and disappeared into it.

"…I'm stunned he managed to defeat me," Toguro said, watching as he vanished from sight.

"I share the sentiments," Fourteen sighed. "Not exactly a professional…"

…

Up in the room, Sowrex growled and slammed his fist on the table. "Dammit!" he shouted. "Even Toguro wasn't able to get this guy off my ass…well…"

He spun around in his seat, opening a drawer on his table. "I was hoping it wouldn't come to this, I was hoping to use these guys for something a little bit bigger than some two bit shadow chaser…" He pulled out the deck, "but I suppose no harm in blowing him off the face of the earth…eh guys?" he asked the deck. Only in his head did he heard the massive roars of anger and pure rage.

Whatever was in the deck, it was going to be a blood bath…

…

**Vulcan Wolf  
Type**: Machine/Fire/Fusion/Effect  
**LV**: 7  
**Attack/Defense**: 2400/2000  
**Effect**: Giga-Tech Wolf + One PYRO-Type Monster.  
Once per turn, select up to two Spells/Traps on your opponents side of the field and destroy them. Deal damage to your opponents Life Points equal to the number of cards destroyed by this effect X 500. This card cannot attack on the turn you use this effect.

**Evil Hero Serrated Blade  
Type**: Fiend/Dark/Fusion/Effect  
**LV**: 7  
**Attack/Defense**: 2600/2300  
**Effect**: Evil Hero Malicious Edge + Elemental Hero Wildheart  
This card cannot be Special Summoned except with "Dark Fusion". When this card destroys an opponent's monster as a result of battle and there is another monster on the field, this card can attack again. When this card destroys an opponent's monster as a result of battle, deal damage to your opponent for each level the monster had X 200.

**Hidden Darkness**  
**Type**: Trap  
**Image**: The defeated form of Elemental Hero Flame Wingman on the ground, with Evil Hero Inferno Wing standing over it.  
**Effect**: When this card is destroyed by an opponent's card effect, select one "Dark Fusion" card in your graveyard and add it to your hand.

**Rubber Soles  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: A Penguin Soldier, looking down at a large Spring loaded platform he's standing on.  
**Effect**: Select one monster you control. Return the selected monster back to your hand.

**Polygrave  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: Three Blue Eyes White Dragons flying out of an open grave, with the skeletal form of a Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon lies in the grave below.  
**Effect**: Pay half your Life points to activate this card. Select and remove from play Fusion Material Monsters in your graveyard, then Special Summon a Fusion Monster in your graveyard whose Fusion Material Monsters are the same as the removed from play monsters. The summoned Cards ATK is halved, all battle damage it inflicted is reduced to 0, and is removed from play at the end phase of the turn. This is treated as a Fusion Summon.

**Evil Hero Nosferatu Wingman  
Type**: Fiend/Dark/Fusion/Effect  
**LV:** 8  
**Attack/Defense**: 2500/2100  
**Effect**: Evil Hero Inferno Wing + Elemental Hero Sparkman  
This card cannot be Special Summoned except with "Dark Fusion". This card deals piercing damage. When this card deals battle damage to your opponent, increase this cards ATK equal to the damage inflicted onto your opponent.

Note: Evil Hero Nosferatu Wingman was created by Metal Overlord 2.0 and used with permission. All credit goes to him.

**Aurora Draw  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**; The Aurora Borealis over two shining stars in the sky.  
**Effect**: Activate only if you have no other cards in your hand. Draw 2 cards.

Note: "Aurora Draw" was first used by Aporia in Yugioh 5Ds Episode 141. All creative credit goes to the writers of that episode.

**Card of Demise  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: A guillotine being dropped on a deck of cards.  
**Effect**: Draw until you have 5 Cards in your hand. At the end of the fifth turn after you drew this card, discard all cards in your hand.

Note: "Card of Demise" was used by Seto Kaiba several times during the course of the Yugioh series. All creative credit goes to the writers.

…

**Fourteen**: Okay buddy, I'm here to put a stop to you and your crooked little organization!

**Sowrex**: Is that so Shadowchaser? Well, perhaps a duel to decide my fate, don't you agree?

**Fourteen**: Fine! Bring it on! But…wait, what? Where did you get these monsters! NO one should have them!

**Sowrex**: Well I do, Shadowchaser, and they'll bring about your end!

Next time: "End of the World"

**Fourteen**: I think I may have my work cut out for me this time…


	20. End of the World

Disclaimer: I do not own the Yu-Gi-Oh Franchise, nor do I intend to make money from it. I do not own the Shadowchasers, which belongs to CyberCommander. Any characters you see belong to me.

Also, thank you to Master of the Library, since Fourteen is creation, and I'm using him with his permission.

_Note: I am using the OCG names of the cards in this chapter. The English names, like Destiny Heroes, are pretty damn stupid._

_Also, the Jalal used in this one is the model before the new design. Just to clear up any confusion._

…

Fourteen was making his way down the hallway as quickly as possible. The building was very large and very labyrinth in design, many twists, turns and dead ends and the like. He was starting to get frustrated, all ready on his fourth cigarette since entering.

"What, did Daedalus design this bloody building?" he asked as he took one final hit from his cigarette, looking up at the blank wall in front of him. Taking out another one, he lit it and stuck it in his mouth, mumbling, "If I run into a Minotaur while I'm in here, I'm just going to blow this place up and be done with it."

Several more minutes of turns and twists and he was at his wits end. Finally, standing in front of a double door, his eye twitched. "Either this is it, or this portion of the building is going to have a smoldering hole where it used to be." And kicked the doors in.

What was on the other side was a large, seemingly empty circular room, the biggest one he'd run into so far. There was a single desk on the far end of it, with a large, plate glass window staring out into the entrance of the factory where he just was a few moments ago.

"I think I'm in the right place, then," he said with a nod to himself. "Now…where would the big guy be…?"

Before he got to searching, something grabbed his attention off to the side. Off to the side was a large plate glass trophy case, with three cards in them. Dread grabbed at his heart as he walked forward, hand sliding into his pocket. Moving his cigarette from one side of his mouth to the other, he leaned in to look at the cards in question.

A sigh left his lips. "I had a feeling I was going to run into you three here…"

Sitting in the trophy case, behind the glass on little stands facing out proudly were the three Egyptian God Cards. Obelisk, the Tormentor. Slifer, the Sky Dragon. The Winged Dragon of Ra.

But on closer inspection 14 noticed that there were a few key differences between these versions of the Egyptian God Cards and the ones Yugi had owned. For starters all three had the orange bordering indicating effect monsters, though the Divine attribute and Divine Beast types were still in place.

Secondly, whoever had designed these versions seemed to have taken some shortcuts in the powers each one retained from their original forms. For instance while Obelisk still allowed the player to sacrifice two monsters to wipe out every monster on an opponent's field, it no longer dealt four thousand points of damage.

Slifer the Sky Dragon had been changed very little. His attack gain had been retained, and his second mouth ability still there. Basically, of the three, he was the one who remained the truest. And as for Ra...

It was hard to imagine humans feeling anything other than either terror or awe in regards to gods, but 14 couldn't help but feel sorry for the Winged Dragon.

"No Point to Point transfer, no gaining attack points from monsters tributed for its effect, no Instant Attack, bloody hell, someone really gave you the raw end of the deal didn't they?" He mused.

"I'd like to see YOU try and find a font size small enough to fit all of that onto a paragraph's worth of space and still be legible you Sean Connery knockoff."

Turning around 14 saw the chair that had been facing the window swivel around revealing the person who had been sitting there all along. The creature sitting at the desk was a fat pale furred humanoid sow stuffed into an expensive Italian business suit and wearing more jewelry and gold rings then any rap star could hope to bear without breaking his back like a twig.

The creature's tusked mouth curled around a fat Cuban cigar his beady pink eyes narrowing in irritation. "You have any idea how much work it was to translate ancient Egyptian chicken scratch into text for a card game? Hell, most of the effects Ra had during Battle City weren't even mentioned in the original text. How a Schizophrenic nutcase like Ishtar could have deciphered them in between his sadio-masochism fits is beyond me."

"I think Marik's problems stemmed a little deeper than any textbook psychology theory my portly friend. But don't you think we should be focusing more on how I just found evidence that you're attempting to revive the most destructive force in Duel Monsters for distribution on the black market? Jalal's going to swallow his tongue when he finds out about this."

"Jalal can kiss the fattest part of my furry white ass," The pig creature snorted, a particularly impressive sound coming from nostrils big enough to fit a grown man's fist into. "I started this business to make money, not brown nose some tea sippin' iguana. You wanna get anywhere in business, you gotta step on a few necks and break a few limbs, that's the law of the jungle kid, and Duel Monsters is no different."

"Well then, I suppose when you put it like that, you sound like a total sociopath. I suppose I should also know the name of the big guy I'm about to take down, hm? I'm Fourteen of the Shadowchasers."

"Heh, never been one for pleasantries," Grinned the hog like creature, "But please, you can just call me Sowrex."

"I can't believe I was surprised that anything but a Porcurian was behind a major counterfeit operation, I'm not going to lie." He crossed his arms.

Porcurians were a special breed of demons from the underworld, which got their strength based solely on one factor: Wealth. The more money that a Porcurian had, the stronger they would be. That meant that when they got out into the mundane world, there was always a good, good chance that there was a Porcurian in some line of major business. Illegal, shoddy business especially.

"You make it sound like I should be ashamed!" Sowrex laughed a little bit as he moved his cigar from one side of his mouth to the other. "But come on, my kind LIVE for this kind of business. It'll be a cold day in hell before you little boy scouts get me in, especially when I have so many projects ahead of me! Enough to keep your boss on his toes for MONTHS, if not years." A little grin crossed his otherwise chubby face.

Fourteen frowned and stared at him. "You realize now that I'm here, that plan is about to go south very quickly, very painfully right?"

"Well then, what are you waiting for then, pretty boy?" Sowrex said as he leaned back in his chair, sneering around his cigar as he made a show of cracking his knuckles, "I'm sitting right here, you caught my hand in the cookie jar, you going to arrest me or what?"

Fourteen tried not to show it, but deep down he was less confident than he was acting. Porcurians drew power from material wealth, and the sum total of everything in the room alone had to be over a million dollars.

If he tried to use force, Sowrex could tap into that power and go Bruce Banner on his ass. Sure, reinforcements could likely take him down with the proper equipment, but that would be cold comfort when he was reduced to a stain on the floor.

"Starting to sink in, isn't it Shadowchaser? The only reason I'm not using your head as a paperweight right now is because the mess your carcass would make in my office. But as much as I hate getting blood on my suit, I won't hesitate in beating the living shit out of you if I catch a glimpse of gemstone or sword."

Fourteen gave a rather audible gulp at that.

Sowrex gave another little chuckle as he pushed back his chair, rising up from his seat. "Luckily for you though, you caught me at a good time. The God Cards aren't quite ready for mass distribution, but I've recently received another set of cards that's going to prove almost as lucrative." He pulled a deck out from his desk and fanned them all out, their backs to Fourteen.

"Thing is, I've only had a chance to run a few simulation duels using them, and I don't think I need to explain the difference in skill between a computer program and an actual living being. So here's the duel, Shadowchaser. I'll humor you and agree to fight by the Fair Fight Clause, but in exchange you have to Ante up your entire deck, including your Copy of Jalal the Dragonborn."

"…You DO realize there are countermeasures to prevent non-Shadowchaser personnel from using his card, right?" Fourteen asked raising an eyebrow.

Sowrex gave another impressive snort at this. "Right, you mean like the Countermeasures that are supposed to prevent criminals from escaping your headquarters? Or countermeasures to prevent Shadows from being able to get away with murdering Shadowchaser personnel?"

"Walked right into that one." Fourteen sighed, shaking his head. "All right, you got a deal. You win, and you get my deck and go on Scott free. I win, I shut down your entire operation."

In his head, however, Sowrex wasn't all that worried.

'_Of course what I forgot to mention, even if this building is lost, it won't nearly be as much a set back as pretty boy thinks. As long as the card expansion data remains intact, even the God Card prototypes can be rebuilt in a matter of months at most.'_

'_Of course that won't matter unless I get that lunatic Vlad and the rest of his Sons of Tyranny flunkies off my ass. If I hadn't agreed to dueling using the cards he gave me I could have just killed this little prick and be done with it. But if I can take this Shadowchaser down, I'll not only fulfill my end of the deal, but I'll have unlimited access to Jalal's custom Synchro!'_

'_Then once we crack the code on how to disable the protective measures Jalal set down, there isn't a Dark Elf assassin, orc warlord or Son of Kyuss who wouldn't pay through the nose to abuse that broken little gem to their hearts content!'_

Before he moved away from his desk, Sowrex reached down to a little button on the other side. Pressing it, there was a loud whirring sound. Fourteen looked up to see the ceiling retracting to reveal the cloudy sky above.

"You'll understand why I'm doing this in a few moments," Sowrex chuckled as he walked in front of his desk, pulling out a solid gold duel disk, studded with diamonds and other jewels, "These guys tend to get a little cramped unless I give them plenty of room."

"Yes, because that totally isn't ominous in any sense," Fourteen commented as he pulled on his own duel disk. Frowning, he compared the two duel disks. _'Well, now I just feel inadequate…'_

"Then let's get this game on the road, Shadowchaser!" Sowrex shouted as his Duel Disk snapped to life.

"Let's duel!" Fourteen exclaimed as he drew his opening hand.

**(Fourteen: 8000) - - - - - - - (Sowrex: 8000)**

Sowrex pulled up his own hand, frowning and snorting. "All I'll do this turn is summon Terrafirmaformer in attack mode."

The ground in front of Sowrex suddenly bulged up and tore open. The creature that stood there was made of the very earth itself, with clumps of dirt falling from its body and various plants sticking around its body. (1500/1000)

"That's one of the big monsters you were hinting at?" Fourteen asked, "Its…disappointing, I'm not going to lie."

Snorting again, Sowrex waved his hand. "That's all I can do now, just go Pretty Boy."

"Gladly!" Fourteen shouted as he snatched his card from his deck. He immediately added it to his hand, and played another card. "I summon Pump-Action Commando in attack mode!"

A gorilla appeared in an orb of light, wearing spiked Shoulder Guards, a row of bullets around his shoulders and a massive gun like mechanism on his right hand. It beat its chest and howled. (1600/1200)

"Pump-Action Commando, attack Terrafirmaformer!" Aiming his weapon, the Gorilla growled under his breath. Suddenly, his body began to glow, and he rose to 2000 attack. The bullets rang out and struck the golem like creature, ripping out pieces of him like paper until finally, he exploded.

Sowrex grunted a little bit as the damage took his toll, but looked down at his deck. Immediately, a card stuck out and he grabbed it with his greasy fingers. "The best thing about Terrafirmaformer, is when its destroyed in battle I'm allowed to add a Field Spell from my deck to my hand. Five hundred big ones aren't going to make much of a difference once its my turn, let me tell you."

'_So this is a deck that focuses on a field spell, huh? I wonder what he could be planning._' He looked at the rest of his hand, and set one card facedown. _'I suppose all I can do is wait at this point._'

"I'll set one card facedown and end my turn."

"Now the fun can REALLY start," Sowrex said as he ignored looking at the card he had drawn. He took another card, the card he took from Terrafirmaformer, and held it up high. "I hope you got your Last will and Testament all ready kid, because this is the beginning of the end for you! I activate…"

The field spell slot stuck out from his Duel Disk, and he fit the new card in there. With a grin, Sowrex finished his sentence."

"Sin World."

Fourteen didn't know what to expect, but it wasn't this. Spreading out from Sowrex's form was nothing but a purple energy that covered the entire office. That was the first effect it seemed. Seconds later, buildings erupted from the ground, surrounding Sowrex and Fourteen in a war torn metropolitan city, with buildings missing massive chunks, several toppled over on themselves and not a single soul in the city to be found.

As Fourteen slowly turned to grasp where he was, Sowrex laughed and laughed and laughed. "Shadowchaser, get a good look of where we are. Cause when I get through with you, you're going to wish you were around to see this…"

…

Jalal's heart skipped a beat as he froze in mid step. A frown crossed his face, looking down to the ground.

"Jalal?" A Shadowchaser asked as she crossed his path. "Jalal, sir, are you okay?"

"…" The Dragonborn shook his head and sighed. "I'm fine, do not worry about me." He continued on his way. _'I just hope that whatever it was I just felt doesn't mean what I think it means. Whoever's against this, god help you.'_

…

"I'm going to go ahead and assume this field spell, outside of making me Anti-War by the second, had some kind of necessity with your deck." Fourteen commented as he turned his attention back to Sowrex.

"It's important in more ways than one!" Sowrex laughed. "My monsters cannot exist without another field spell on the field, and Sin World happens to be the best source of energy for them! What kind of monsters are summoned with this on the field, I'm sure you're asking, hm? Well, let's try THIS!"

Another card pulled itself out of its deck, and he held it up for Fourteen to see. What the Shadowchaser saw made him flinch: Blue Eyes White Dragon.

Even more confusing, he pocketed the dragon type in one of his pockets, and took another card from his hand.

"I remove from play Blue-Eyes White Dragon to summon SIN Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"

A black and purple portal formed in the ground, swirling around as various roars and shrieks could be heard on the other side, sounds which Fourteen was not liking in the least. A form flew up from the portal and floated in front of Sowrex. It was Blue-Eyes White Dragon, a spitting image except for a few differences, most noticeably the metal covering over his head and metal covering over the wings. (3000/2500)

"Good lord…" Fourteen mumbled as he witnessed the new monster arrive on the field with an ear shattering roar.

"SIN Blue-Eyes White Dragon, annihilate his monster!"

The corrupt monster opened its fanged maw, a ball of energy, colored black and purple like a bruise began to form. Whipping its head forward, the beam fired and struck the ape-like warrior. With a shriek, the Gorilla exploded violently into pixels.

**(Fourteen: 6600) - - - - - - - (Sowrex: 7500)**

"The very power of one of the strongest Dragons in the game at my finger tips, what hope do you have, Shadowchaser?!"

"What I'm still trying to figure out is what kind of mad man would corrupt a Blue Eyes like this?!" He exclaimed.

Sowrex snorted violently and cackled. "You think he's the only monster in this deck that I've got waiting in the wings! Pun intended, of course. You ain't seen shit yet!"

"That doesn't exactly fill me with excitement," Fourteen mumbled as he eyed the giant, corrupt dragon, which snarled down at the Shadowchaser in turn.

"I'll set one card facedown and call it a turn! Heh, I can all ready tell this is gonna be loads of fun!"

"A load of fun, huh?" Fourteen asked as he snatched his card off his deck, "Well I suppose I'll play then! Summon Exploder Dragon in attack mode!"

A thin, almost sickly looking dragon appeared in front of him. In its claws, it was clutching a pulsating red orb. (1000/0)

Sowrex moved the cigar from one end of his mouth to the other, a dull look on his face. "Well, shit."

"I'll take it by your dead pan reaction you know what he can do!" He pointed at the much larger dragon, "Exploder Dragon, attack his monster!"

The orb began to flash even faster and much brighter as the smaller dragon dashed to the corrupt Legendary Dragon, slamming its entire body into midsection. With a brilliant explosion, the SIN Blue Eyes White Dragon was destroyed, leaving not a trace behind.

Fourteen had a smug smirk on his face as he crossed his arms. "What do you have to say about that?"

"Eh," Sowrex said, shrugging in a bored fashion, "Win some, lose some."

"That's not the exact reaction I expected from someone who just lost their best monster…" Fourteen mumbled under his breath.

Sowrex grinned at him, snorting and flashing his teeth, which, much to Fourteen's not surprise, were gold plated. "When did I ever say he was my strongest card? Hell, if anything, he was my weakest! When you see my strongest cards, well, spoiling that would be a surprise." He snorted again. "Now how about you end your turn?"

Fourteen looked at his hand and played one more card. "I'll set one card facedown and end my turn."

Rather than draw, Sowrex gestured. SIN World pulsated around him as he did. "Now here's a little trick SIN World is capable of. By forgoing my original draw phase, I can add a random SIN monster from my deck to my hand!"

_Good lord, there's more of them?_

Another card jut out and he snatched it up. When he saw what it was, he laughed uproariously. "Now that's what I'm talking about! I'll remove this from play and summon its SIN Form to the field!"

Another card stuck out from the deck, and Fourteen's heart skipped a beat when he saw it: Rainbow Dragon.

Another portal of darkness formed around Sowrex as another earth rumbling roar echoed over the office and the landscape. A much larger form snaked out and coiled in the air, flapping its massive armored wings like the Blue Eyes had. The SIN Rainbow Dragon floated there in mid air, its wings coated in black armor and its eyes showing but malice, roaring out loud. (4000/0)

"You have the RAINBOW DRAGON?" he asked, looking up at his cards. "You know, considering your tricked out status, I'm surprised you didn't just cut out the middle man and just use Crystal Beasts, or Blue Eyes support?"

"You'd think that would be that easy, eh? But surprisingly, it's not. No, see, I can make endless amounts of copies for various cards, endless amounts of cards like the Crush Card Virus, Harpies Feather Duster, Raigeki, normally impossible to reach cards! But…"

A low grumble escaped the pig mans mouth, and he pulled out Rainbow Dragon from his pocket to show him. "Cards like these, the Signer Dragons and previous incarnations of The God cards have been a little bit more difficult to use. For reasons I can't explain, I couldn't use them. Sure, I could make a good Stardust Dragon, or Rainbow Dragon with the Crystal Beasts thrown in for shits and giggles, and hell, even OBELISK, and the Duel Disk would never be able to read them!"

He snorted out of habit, and he inhaled the remnants of his cigar and blew the smoke out of the other side out of his mouth. "So for the longest time, these guys were nothing more than pretty decorations around my office…" He gestured to the massive SIN Rainbow Dragon that sat there, floating in mid air and snarling. "Until these pretty little things fell into my lap."

_You mean he didn't make these things?_ Fourteen asked. _Then…then where did they come from?_

…

In a realm beyond time and space, in a primordial ether between countless dimensions including our own, a being of immeasurable size began to stir.

One by one, a collection of enormous heads rose up, consciousness slowly returning after untold aeons of dormancy as the collective intelligence sensed something…familiar.

Wings large enough to span the circumference of a planet stretched out and swept through the abyss as with its resurfacing consciousness came a myriad of emotions, becoming less alien as it assumed a form comprehensible by mortal minds.

First there was curiosity, as to what event would rouse such a being from its slumber, then recognition, sensing the presence of its brood, calling out to their progenitor from across multiple planes of reality.

Finally, anger, as the cries of its young, came the realization that they were now bound and forced to serve one who had done nothing to earn its favor, and out of greed, would now face its wrath.

Slowly, it began to probe the dimensions around, slipping through the cracks of reality as it followed the cries of its offspring, slowly being drawn to a tiny blue planet…

…

Sowrex relished in the look of fear Fourteen was giving the giant dragon as it glared at the Shadowchaser. "SIN Rainbow Dragon!" He threw a hand forward, "Attack directly with Corrupt Rainbow Rush!"

The massive dragon opened its mouth and fired a destructive blast of rainbow energy at Fourteen. He barely had time to react and threw his hand to his face down, shouting, "I play Offensive Guard! This cuts the attack of your monster in half and-ARGH!"

He never got to finish his sentence as the still impressively large blast struck him and sent him flying against the wall on the other side of the room, wincing as he peeled himself off and coughed, felling to his knees. "…let's me…draw a card." He weakly drew a card.

**(Fourteen: 4600) - - - - - - - (Sowrex: 7500)**

Frowning at the Shadowchasers defiant nature and just wouldn't DIE, he played a new card. "I'll just play SIN's Might and end my turn."

Fourteen drew another card, walking to his original spot and looked over at the newly activated Spell card. What on earth was that thing? "I'll set one monster in defense mode, and set two cards facedown." The three new cards appeared in front of him, and looking up at the Porcurian, nodded. "I'll end my turn."

"I think I'll draw normally this turn," Sowrex commented as he drew a card. "SIN Rainbow Dragon, annihilate his face down!"

The massive beam of multicolored light blasted the facedown card, revealing a red orb with massive claws. It flew up through the beam and latched itself onto the massive dragons face. The dragon struggled and whipped its head back and forth, trying to shake the obstruction off.

"I find it funny, really." Fourteen commented as the Dragon roared in anger. "My little, seemingly powerless monsters are just…going around and absolutely throttling your giant, giant eyesores. And come my turn, that thing is gonna take blow up, and take out a healthy little chunk of your life point."

"Yeah, well, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it." He said with a bored shrug. He didn't seem all that worried about it. "I'll set one more card facedown, and end my turn." A facedown appeared behind the still struggling Rainbow Dragon.

Fourteen drew his card and immediately added it to his hand. "I'm not one for spoiling fireworks. I'll just end my turn!"

Sowrex tapped a button on his duel disk causing the void around them to pulse as Sin World's effect was activated a card spitting out from his deck. When he saw what he had in his hand the corner of his mouth curled around a tusk in a smirk.

"Get something good? You're gonna need it once my Blast Sphere goes off and takes away more then half your life points," 14 said looking at his watch. "Which should be happening just about...now."

Right on cue the bomb attached to Sin Rainbow Dragon beeped before enveloping Sowrex's side of the field in an enormous explosion. The agent tilted his head up and gave a deep whiff before sighing in contentment. "As cliché as it is to say this...I really DO love the smell of napalm in the morning."

"That's easy for you to say, you don't have nostrils big enough to fit a freakin' carrot into." Sowrex coughed waving away the smoke with his free hand. Surprisingly his life points were completely untouched.

14 arched an eyebrow before he noticed the trap card now active on the Porcurian's side of the field and sighed. "Fusion Guard huh?"

"Right, which means despite losing my dragon the damage from Blast Sphere was reduced to zero."

_'Of course what pretty boy doesn't know is what I have planned for the card I just discarded to use Fusion Guard's effect,' _Sowrex thought as he discarded an eerily familiar monster from his extra deck into his graveyard. "But I'm starting to see that summoning these guys one at a time isn't going to cut it against a Shadowchaser of your caliber."

"Your point being...?" 14 asked not sure he liked the sound of this. Instead of replying Sowrex removed not one but TWO monsters from his deck as a pair of enormous shapes emerged on his side of the field.

Whatever dark force had created the SIN archetype seemed capable of perverting even the creations of the Crimson Dragon, the malevolent doppelgangers of Stardust Dragon and Red Dragon Archfiend respectively serving as a grim testament to this. The two dragons gave deafening roars as Sin World pulsed in response.

"So let's see if I can't get the job done with TWO Sin monsters, meet Sin Red Dragon Archfiend and Sin Stardust Dragon." Sowrex said with a smug look. (3000/2500) (2500/2000).

"That...might be a problem," 14 said sweating a little before he noticed a ring of stars begin to circle around Sin Stardust Dragon. "What the..."

"I suppose I better explain that, you see normally the Sin monsters are so powerful they can only be summoned one at a time, one of several features that makes them similar to the Earthbound Immortals, but with Sin Might in play, I can bypass that restriction. In exchange any extra Sin monsters I summon are destroyed in a number of turns equal to their star level."

"Get the picture? Good, because here comes the part where I KILL YOU! Sin Red Dragon Archfiend, attack! Minus Power Force!" The black armored dragon shrieked pulling back a clawed fist which began to glow with a cold black energy as it flew toward 14.

"Oh no you don't!" Fourteen shouted, and his facedown suddenly flipped up. "I play the card, Bomb Swarm! By discarding one Pyro monster in my hand, I can summon a Bomb token for each level it has!"

Four eruptions of colorful smoke puffed into existence, and with them came four cartoon style bombs with etched in smiling faces. (0/0) X 4.

"Keep it going, Archfiend!" The attack did not stop and struck one of the bombs, causing it to erupt in a massive explosion. "What's better is his effect. When he destroys a monster of yours, he takes out all other face up cards that don't have "SIN" in their name!" The SIN Red Dragons claw began to glow even darker and sweeped it across the field. It struck the remaining three tokens, blowing them all to pieces.

"Now-" Sowrex began, but only cried out when the bombs suddenly materialized around him, blinking black and red rapidly. "What the actual-GAH!" He shouted again, as the bombs violently exploded. His life points ticked down.

"So sorry, lad." 'Tsk'd' Fourteen, waving a single finger like a father scolding his son. "You should know better than to set fire to explosives. See, when my tokens are destroyed, you lose 300 Life Points for each one."

"I don't think I've ever hated someone like you in my life." Snapped Sowrex, his eyes glaring hatefully at Fourteen with a snarl, baring his tusks. "Knowing that, this is going to make my next attack _very_ therapeutic!" He pointed a chubby hand forward. "SIN Stardust Dragon, attack with Negative Cosmic Flare!"

SIN Stardust's eyes suddenly began to glow dark purple and a ball of energy began to build at the front of its mouth. Roaring loudly, it blasted the beam of energy forward, dragging it on the ground in front of Fourteen. Seconds later, a series of explosions ripped apart the ground and sent him back. Screaming, Fourteen flew back and landed on his back.

**(Fourteen: 2100) - - - - - - - (Sowrex: 6300)**

"If I were you, Shadowchaser, I'd surrender at this point. I've got two, big dragons here who are just itching to kick your sorry ass, and you have nothing that can even hope to beat my monsters." Sowrex gloated, a large smile on his fat face.

"Oh come on, big guy, you had to have been watching my duels with your two lackeys, right?" Fourteen asked, as he picked himself up, groaning. "You should know by now how I play this: If I can't beat them, I'll blow them up into chunks." He grinned.

Sowrex said nothing and instead slipped a card facedown behind his two snarling dragons. "That ends up my turn."

"Then let's get the fireworks started!" Fourteen grinned, his energy returning as he looked at his new card. "And what better one than this guy? I banish from my graveyard Blast Sphere and Solar Flare Dragon to summon from my hand Demolition Soldier!"

In a pillar of fire stepped a new warrior, this one who looked like he belonged on a war zone. His skin was scorched and scarred, he had several rows of dynamite strapped to his chest and one of his eyes was shut over a burn that took over most of his face. (2600/2100)

"Now I'm gonna activate his effect. Once per turn, I can destroy one monster on your side of the field, free of charge!"

"What?!"

One of the sticks of dynamite lit up on the man's vest, and he quickly pulled it off. He threw it with all of his might as the SIN Archfiend Dragon, which struck the dragon in the chest. It gave a massive roar, and exploded.

"And you call my monsters broken!?" Sowrex complained.

"Well, yes, but as you can see, my Demolition Soldier suffers a little draw back by doing what he just did." He gestured to the Soldier, whose other sticks of dynamite had been lit up. "See, because I activated his effect, he's gonna blow up. And the bad part is, when he blows up, because I special summoned him through his effect, I'm gonna lose half of his Attack points in life Points."

Fourteen moved a cigarette into his mouth and chuckled. "But I'll be sure to deal more damage to you than you can to me! Demolition Soldier, attack his SIN Stardust Dragon with Back Blast Burn!"

A fireball began to form in the palms of the Warrior-Type, who quickly threw the now massive orb of fire at the equally large corrupted dragon. The Dragon didn't even get a chance to roar in pain before it evaporated.

"Gr…because you just destroy my Sin Monster, I can activate the trap card, Sin Tune!" Sowrex shouted, as his card flipped up. "This lets me draw two cards!" He did so, adding them to his hand.

**(Fourteen: 2100) - - - - - - - (Sowrex: 6200)**

"And now, I'll set this card facedown and end my turn."

"You realize that because of your Demolition Soldier, you're about to lose now, right?" Sowrex asked, the anger in his voice ebbing to a more calm and sarcastic voice.

_Heh. But with my Battle Armor facedown, this'll direct any attack he can send at me back at any of his monsters. And with his SIN Might in play, I'll at least keep Demolition Soldier in play and keep the damage to me reduced. This guy is so conceited, he can't keep from summoning more than one!_

"Yeah, yeah, I can work with this." Sowrex chuckled. "I'll first start by activating Sin Selector. This lets me banish two Sin monsters in my Graveyard, I can add two from my deck. So I'll banish my SIN Blue Eyes and my SIN Rainbow Dragon to add these two!" He said, pocketing the two cards while two new ones jut out of his deck, which he added to his hand.

"Now, I'll activate Awakening from Beyond! This lets you draw two cards, but it lets ME add a card from my graveyard to my hand!"

Fourteen eyed him warily as he drew his two cards, and Sowrex added the monster, SIN Stardust Dragon, to his hand.

"Now, to finish off my scheme, I'll activate Burial from the Different Dimension, allowing me to return up to three monsters that were banished to the graveyard! But I'll only do it for one: my Stardust Dragon!"

"My god, is this _going_ anywhere? You've done a grand total of absolute arse!"

"Oh, you wanna see what I've been building up to? Well, wait no longer! I summon SIN Parallel Gear!"

In a flurry of sparkles appeared a gear, on top of drills and other gears to give it the appearance of a human being. (0/0)

"Not…what I expected, that's for sure…" Fourteen admitted, blinking.

"Well, fun thing about my Gear? It's a Tuner monster, a strong one that doesn't need monsters on the field to do it, but monsters in my hand!" He held up a card from his hand, and flipped it around to show SIN Stardust Dragon. "So, Synchro Summon!"

SIN Stardust Dragon appeared on the field while Parallel Gear suddenly burst into two rings, flying up in the air between the two. He turned bright green and eventually burst, along with the rings, into ten stars. The stars flew up into the air and disappeared into the chaotic mess of SIN World, and something _big_ began to fly down.

"Take a look at your destruction, Shadowchaser." Cackled Sowrex, waving a hand up. "I Synchro Summon to the field, SIN Paradox Dragon!"

The monster that flew down wasn't a dark copy of a monster that all ready existed, but it was still immense and terrifying to look at none the less. Its basic color scheme was black, with white and silver armor outlining its wings. Silver spikes ran down its back, all the way down its narrow and sickly looking stomach and tail, ending with a gold and black spike on the tip of its tail. Its head was lined with spikes, its eyes dark red and its mouth lined with teeth. It gave a low snarl as it lowered its head down at Fourteen, ready to strike. (4000/4000)

Fourteen, gulping audibly, spoke up with, "I'm not scared of your Dragon…I'll still take it down."

"You didn't let me finish its effect. When I summon my SIN Paradox Dragon, it lets me summon a Synchro monster, from either Graveyard. Now you see why I decided to return my Stardust Dragon?"

A black portal opened beside the Dragon, and Stardust Dragon, the real one (Well, as real as it was going to get at the moment) flew out, landing beside and being dwarfed by the massive dragon. (2500/2000)

"And ya know what? Why not bring more folks to the party! I banish Harpies Pet Dragon to summon SIN Harpies Pet Dragon!"

"Oh come on!"

He banished another card from his deck and another monster came out. One of Mai Valentines main monsters appeared, but like the other SIN monsters, corrupted and coated in a dark armor, with an evil aura. It gave a low snarl. (2000/2500)

"Just like it's counterpart, my Dragon also gains attack, but instead of Harpies, it's for every card on the field with SIN in its name, including its own!"

Dark energy began to flow into the dragon, and it grew notably bigger. (2000/2500) - (3200/2500)

"Now, if I remember correctly, if your Demolition Soldier bites the big one, then that means you'll take 1300 more damage?" He gave another chuckle. "Then how about we end this right now? SIN Paradox Dragon, end this thing now with Corruption Purge!"

A ball of energy began to build in the monsters mouth and grow larger and larger…

_If I use my Battle Armor on Harpies Pet Dragon, I can stop any and all damage he sends at me this turn. But then I'll have to deal with Stardust Dragon, who can negate only one destruction effect…but he may only need to negate one! But if I use it on Stardust, I'll be able to destroy these things, but I'll come dangerously close to losing the duel…_

The attack fired….

_But I'll still be alive!_

"Go, Attack Guidance Armor! This forces your monster to not attack my monster, but yours instead! So how about we get rid of the thing that's not like the others!"

A sinister suit of armor clamped over Stardust Dragon's chest, causing it to howl in confusion. The attack suddenly changed direction in mid air and slammed into the dragon, evaporating him in an instant. The backlash was enough to send Sowrex skidding back, using his arms to block the buffeting wind.

**(Fourteen: 2100) - - - - - - - (Sowrex: 4700)**

"Grrr….!" Sowrex snarled. "SIN Harpie Dragon, kill him! Kill his monster all ready!"

The Dragon released another billowing pillar of flames that struck the Demolition Soldier. The warrior gave a loud cry of pain and exploded violently. The explosion was enough to knock Fourteen well a ways back and land on his back, his clothes smoking and some parts burned. "Ow…"

**(Fourteen: 200) - - - - - - - (Sowrex: 4700)**

"Okay, forgive me for sounding quite…braggy, but let's look at the facts kid. Unless you manage to get the draw of the century, I win. I got two monsters on the field that can just plow through anything you set through. So, wanna see if Lady Luck is shining down on you today?" He smirked.

He suddenly lifted up one card in his hand, and slipped it facedown.

"Just in case you do…one card goes facedown. Turn end."

Fourteen groaned and, picking himself up, looking down at his deck and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. He suddenly reached down and grabbed the sleeve of his jacket, and something fell out of it, strapped to his wrist. It dangled there, ticking away.

"You know, when people say "Life ticks away", they don't mean you should watch it tick away," Sowrex snapped, his beady little eyes narrowing in annoyance.

"I like watches." Fourteen said suddenly, looking at the little dangling clock. "This one here was a hand-me down from my old man who got it from his dad, who got it from an elf he befriended."

"I wasn't always a Shadowchaser, you know. Still run the family watch-making business part-time when I'm not duty. I like the ticking of the second hand the best." He began to fiddle with his watch, twisting and rotating the dial around the edge. "Steady, constant, doesn't waver...and you know if you hear that ticking in a movie, something big is about to explode and _that _is always fun."

He seemed satisfied with his efforts and smiled a bit. "I suppose that most people think I'm obsessed with the timers on bombs and I suppose that's true, but there's another reason I like this watch and the second hand."

Sowrex opened his mouth to ask what the fool meant, but paused he heard it. It was barely audible over the roars of his dragons, but it was there. A soft, quiet melody.

"You see, it makes me happy. Simple little thing, really. Hopelessly mundane and something people gloss over every day without realizing it. But it's always there, isn't it? Going strong, as sharp today as it was when it started. Its a reminder that things are still going forwards, yes indeed. Just like a lot of good people in the world. And this song...well, it shows me that something as simple as a second hand can make something beautiful. That all the ordinary people in the world can do something great just by living out their lives."

Fourteen straightened his jacket, dusting it off as he stood tall. "But someone like you, who wants to cause pain or make a cheap buck, you just step on those people, ignoring their worth. So that's why I'm here, that's why I'm a Shadowchaser, that's why I'm twice as good as 007 and that's why I'm going to show the ladies of the world some good old-fashion loving." He smirked, his British accent sharp in his voice as he shot Sowrex a thumbs-down. "You're living on borrowed time, Sowrex and I'm here to collect!"

Sowrex gave an annoyed snarl as his ears folded against his head. Now he was gonna have to deal with this music for the rest of the damn duel…he'd smash that fucking watch when he won!

Fourteen looked at the newly drawn card and couldn't help but laugh. "Speaking of lovely ladies, guess who happens to love me today? I activate the spell card, Charge Fusion!" The spell appeared with a grin. "I'll use this pretty little thing to bring out my main monster, Vulcannon!"

He discarded his copies of Jigen Bakudon and Adhesive Explosive, and in a massive explosion that erupted behind him, Explosive Beast Vulcannon appeared with an echoing roar. (2300/1700)

Fourteen smirked up at Sowrex, his eyes widened in terror and could only watch as energy began to surround the rhino-dinosaur beast, charging up it's explosive nature. When it had reached the peak, it rose up to the air and rushed at the massive black and silver dragon, colliding with the beasts chest and causing it to explode in a mushroom cloud that was powerful enough to send Sowrex flying back, tumbling head over feet as he rolled like a ball before coming to a stop.

"And this little piggy went wee-wee-wee, all the way home." Fourteen said smugly, throwing out his snuffed out cigarette and popping in a new one. "I think that makes us a bit more even."

**(Fourteen: 200) - - - - - - - (Sowrex: 700)**

"You…you little….argh! That's it!" Sowrex roared, picking himself up. "I didn't wanna have to do this, but you forced my hand! I activate SIN Paradigm!"

His trap suddenly flipped up, and a dark energy surrounded it, and Sowrex. "When you destroy my SIN Paradox Dragon, I can use this to pay half of my Life Points and summon my best monster in my deck! Come out!"

A darker portal than before opened up above the duel field, while his trap card shattered. From the portal suddenly floated down an immense figure, larger than SIN Paradox Dragon. The creature didn't look like he was any SIN monster that Fourteen had seen yet, it's entire color scheme was pure gold, if a little dim and dirty looking. It's wings spread out wide , casting the entire field in shadow, with spines running down its back and down its equally narrow tail. Its head was small, its eyes bright red and its teeth full of teeth. It landed on the ground and merely glared down at the Shadowchaser. (5000/5000)

"SIN Truth Dragon!"

"Okay." Fourteen said, never breaking his stride and taking a deep breath. "One step forward, two steps back. Nothing I can't handle!" _I hope._ "I'll set this card facedown and pray for the best!" He said, his cockiness never leaving as the music continued to play, loudly for him.

"Draw!" Sowrex called and drew his card, making it the only card in his hand. He ignored it immediately and pointed forward, shouting, "SIN Truth Dragon, end this right now!"

The attack was underwhelming, given the build up of the beast. It merely launched a pillar of purplish flames forward at the Shadowchaser, who could only give a little nonchalant shrug of his shoulders and said, over the roar, "Negate Attack says something against that."

The flames struck an invisible barrier, causing it to blossom out and miss Fourteen entirely.

Sowrex was silent, but the fact his rolls were jiggling was a sign he was jiggling with rage. "You...are such…a _pain…_"

"Well then, I'm doing my job now aren't I?" He asked, the teasing tone in his voice very evident. "You about done?"

All Sowrex could do was twitch his eye and give a very curt, very annoyed nod of his head, his teeth gritting and his eyes going red.

"Well, see, now I just feel bad," Fourteen said as he drew his card, looking down at it. "Here you have this big, bad ass monster just aimed at me like a cannon, and all I can do is set cards. Give me a bit though." He chuckled, as one monster appeared before him, in defense position, and a card facedown. "The wick is lit and the timers ticking down."

"Then I'll be sure to end this now!" Sowrex shouted, drawing a card and looking at it. "I activate Spellbook of the Pot! Now draw your cards, Shadowchaser, they're the last ones you're gonna get!"

Both players drew three cards, and both of them got really wide, evil grins on their faces.

_This is just what I need!_ Both thought.

"I summon King of the Swamp!" Sowrex shouted, as a murky head and arms appeared on the field, made entirely out of swamp sludge. (500/1100)

"Hm. Guess I didn't expect to see that one considering…well." He shrugged. "Oh crap, what are you gonna fuse?"

"One of the toughest and hardest to summon SOB's in the game! Know why? Cause it's impossible to do so otherwise! Remember that card I discarded with Fusion Guard a few turns back? Well what do you have to say about this?" He asked pulling the card out of his graveyard and revealing what it was.

Fourteen scowled, seeing the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon.

"I think I know what you're going to summon." Fourteen mumbled. "And I don't think I'm gonna like it."

"Well let's stop wasting time and get right down to the fun, shall we? I activate Dragon's Mirror! Fusing together my King of the Swamp and my Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon in my Graveyard to summon Dragon Master Knight!"

The giant three headed dragon appeared on the field, while the King of the Swamp suddenly molded upward until it was a perfect copy of the Black Luster Soldier, only made out of swamp algae. Both of the monsters were pulled the mirror that appeared behind them. The mirror broke, and another figure joined the other three, accompanied by an immense roar.

It was the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon, only looking far more feral. On its back was the Black Luster Soldier, holding it's sword up like a proud mount would, looking rather regal. (5000/5000)

"Before you get all dramatic again, I know what it does. It's an overly complicated to summon Buster Blader, or Dark Paladin, and it gets a nifty little five hundred bonus for dragons on both sides of the field, and graveyard."

"Someone's done his homework! But who says I'm DONE? I'll activate the spell, Spell Economics, which nullifies any payment by spells of my own use, and to finish this combo, I activate Dimensional Rescue!" He slipped the new card in, and a multicolored portal, typical of that depicting the Different Dimension, appeared over the card art. "Normally I'd have to pay 1500 Life Points to play this, but Spell Economics helps in that regard to a nice and affordable zero, and now all of my banishes monsters are returned to my graveyard!"

The cards from his banished zone, the non-corrupt monsters the SIN parodied appeared, and were sucked into the portal. Each time one went in, the aura around the Dragon Master Knight great even mightier until it gave a building shakingly powerful roar. (5000/5000) - (11500/5000)

"Well then, the bigger the better," Fourteen chuckled, adjusting his suit and his hair, as they had been ruffled by the roar. "By all means, bring it on."

"That's it! I'm sick of that smug face of yours! Dragon Master Knight, show him why you're the master and attack his facedown monster!"

The three headed dragon gathered energy in its mouth, while Black luster Soldier gathered energy in his sword. The two of them fired a single beam, which connected in mid air and grew even larger and more powerful. They slammed into Fourteen's facedown card, a Cannon Soldier, and dissolved it to atoms.

"And now to finish you off! SIN Truth Dragon-"

"Actually, there's still a problem about the toll you need to pay."

"The _what._"

When the smoke cleared, there was a Tollbooth standing between the massive dragon and Fourteen, with the guard asking for money from Toll standing there beside it. The divider was down.

"I activated my trap card, Tollhouse. See, when you destroy my monster, my trap card acquires a total. The monster who you just declared an attack with, and his attack points deducted from the monster you just destroyed. 11500 minus 1400 is 10100. Now the effect of Tollhouse makes it so any monster whose attack doesn't exceed that can't attack for the remainder of your turn. Last I checked, your monsters were nowhere near powerful enough."

Sowrex was silent, his hands clenched tightly.

"Heh, really it's your own fault. You had two other monsters on the field, easily capable of destroying anything I set facedown but you decided to attack me with your biggest and your best to send me a message. Now that message is null and void, because you have no cards in your hand, you other monsters to attack, and no spells or traps to activate. Effectively making it my turn."

He drew a card, his smirk growing as he saw Sowrex shaking in rage. "Oh, and before I forget, I'll add my Charge Fusion back to my hand." He did so.

"Oh, you know what's funny about this whole thing? The first card from your Spellbook is the one that's gonna end this whole thing. I'll activate Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy the SIN World."

The only thing louder than the howl of the tornado that began to form in the field was Sowrex's shrieking, snorting scream of pure rage. The tornado was fierce, quickly ripping apart the collapsed buildings and reducing them to rubble, quickly sucking them up into the sky, disappearing and returning the two of them to the rather spacious office of Sowrex.

SIN Harpie Pet Dragon and SIN Truth Dragon apparently couldn't take the absence of their world much longer, as they gave low, agonized groans before they ultimately exploded into pixels, leaving only the Dragon Master Knight alone on the field.

"Now, I'll activate my Charge Fusion again to summon another one of my great Vulcan Monsters! I'll fuse together my Launcher Spider and Solar Flare Dragon in order to summon my Vulcan Spider!"

He discarded the two cards, and what looked like an even more deadly version of the Launcher Spider appeared. It's metal components were more stream lined and shiny, it had MASSIVE cannon's on its back, sandwiching a satellite between them, and it had eight visors for eyes. (3300/3500)

"Now, just to give my hand a bit of a refresher, I'll activate Card of Demise, to give me a brand new, shiny, fresh hand." He quickly snapped up his cards, and he couldn't help but smile at what he got. The music from his watch continued to play even now. If anything, it had grown _louder_.

"See, Vulcan Spider isn't much for attacking, really. He's cannon, set to destroy anything he set his coordinates on. Basically, I can roll a dice, and whatever number it rolls on, it'll destroy a monster on your side of the field, and deal you damage equal to it's attack point. However, the only catch is, my monster not only has to have more attack points than the monster he's targeting, but if I land on a six, he nukes himself and I'll lose the life points."

Sowrex smiled through his rage, chuckling. "Then-then you can't do shit! Even if you roll the dice and it lands on Dragon Master Knight, you can't destroy it because it's got more than triple his attack strength!"

"No, but at the least, I can even my odds a little bit. I'll activate Necromancy!"

Spectral energy suddenly rose from his graveyard, causing the Porcurian to cry out in pain as the energy grew brighter, before four shapes flew from the Duel Disk and landed on the field in front of him, forming the shapes of Blue Eyes White Dragon, The Stardust Dragon, the Cyber Dragon, and the Red Dragon Archfield, all curled up in defense position. (3000/2500), (2500/2000), (4000/2800), (3000/2000)

"Now I've got a full fifty/fifty chance. But just because I like having odds in MY favor, I'll activate Limiter Removal to double my monsters attack points!"

The Vulcan Spider suddenly grew nearly twice it's size, almost matching the Dragon Master Knight. (3300/3500) - (6600/3500)

"There we go! Now I have a four out of six chance of finishing this bad boy up!" Fourteen smirked. "And those are odds I can live with! Vulcan Spider, starting setting up the coordinates!"

"_Analyzing._" Came the computerized voice from the massive spider. Suddenly, a targeting receptacle appeared on the field, and began to zoom around the spaces between the six monsters wildly. Sowrex fit his fingers into his mouth, his eyes wide and a layer of sweat forming on his face. Fourteen calmly slipped another cigarette into his mouth, lighting it with his lighter without even a card in the world.

The receptacle began to slow down very, very slowly, landing on Stardust Dragon, then Red Dragon Archfiend…and then Vulcan Spider….then Dragon Master Knight…Sowrex's smile grew in excitement…

And then it bounced to Blue Eyes.

Fourteen smirked. "I win."

The missiles fired from the cannons on the spiders back, flying high into the air and towards the helpless Dragon…

"No! I won't lose! Stardust Dragon, I sacrifice you-"

"You sacrifice nothing. I'll chain his effect with Forbidden Chalice."

Sowrex's roar of anger was silenced as the missile collided with the dragon, exploding violently and sending Sowrex clear across his office and into one of his window panes, smashing into the glass and causing it to spider web outward, but never destroyed. He fell to the ground, a low groan filling the room.

"Like I said," Fourteen smirked, blowing some smoke out of his nose. "I win."

**(Fourteen: 200) - - - - - - - (Sowrex: 0)**

"Phew…" Fourteen chuckled as he wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. "You know, this was probably the most fun I think I've had in a duel…you know, so long as you look past the fact you tried to kill me. All in all, it was kinda-"

He was silenced when he saw Sowrex suddenly lift up a hand, and in his shaky, pudgy fingers was a gun. "You…you fuckin'…"

"Oh come on, you want to add more stuff to the reasons I'm arresting you? What do you have to gain?" Fourteen sighed.

"Ain't…ain't gonna shoot you…" Sowrex said with a little grin, coughing up a mouthful of blood. "Not…not unless you make me…" He chuckled again, pressing his face against the floor for a moment to get some energy back. "I…I ain't got nothing to lose, just like you said." He chuckled a little bit and shakily rose to his feet, his beady little eyes narrowed at the Shadowchaser. "Now…here's how it's gonna go, ya bastard…" he said as he carefully walked to his desk, resting his free hand on the desk to keep himself up. "I'm…I'm gonna grab what I need, and you're gonna walk away unless you wanna get filled with lead-"

Fourteen moved faster than even Sowrex expected, as he rushed across the room. He kicked the gun from his hand, spun, and grabbed his fat neck, throwing him into the desk with enough strength to make it crack.

"You wanna try that again?" He asked to the struggling Porcurian.

"Get offa me!" He shouted, as he began to pull Fourteen off of his neck with his own strength returning. "You…I'm gonna…." He snarled, as a small struggle began between the two of them. A struggle that Sowrex was starting to win.

"If I can't shoot ya…" Sowrex chuckled, as he began to overpower Fourteen, "I'll just beat ya to death! I think that'll work even bet-"

His sentence never finished as his breath hitched and his eyes widened, his smirk leaving for a confused frown. "What…what the hell…?"

He was suddenly, roughly, jerked through the air away from Fourteen and into the air, where he float in mid air. "What the hell?!" He shouted. "Get me down from here! What the hell are you doing?!"

Fourteen frowned in confusion. "I…I don't know-"

Sowrex began to howl in pain as the room began to rumble and shake, the air itself fluctuating. Seconds later, one by one, the strong, unbreakable glass that showed the outside world shattered like it was made of nothing. Fourteen covered his head as glass rained down at him for several seconds, and continued while the light bulbs above exploded, casting the room in a dull orange, the only light the setting sun behind them.

"I can't…I can't move! What the hell is going on!"

_FILTHY PORCURIAN. YOU DARE TOUCH MY BROOD AND EXPECT TO NOT SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES?_

The voice came from nowhere but was loud enough to sound like the source was coming from right beside their heads. Fourteen cried out in pain and clapped his hands over his ears, while Sowrex could only scream in surprise. "Who the hell are you?!"

_YOU DO NOT NEED TO CONCERN YOURSELF WITH WHO I MAY BE, YOU MORTAL, BUT I ASSURE YOU, YOUR PUNISHMENT SHALL NOT BE MERCIFUL._

"Punishment?! For what?!"

_YOU TOUCH MY CHILDREN, YOU MAKE THEM CRY IN PAIN AND WORK AGAINST THEIR WILL, CORRUPTING THEIR ESSENCE AND MAKING THEM MERE MONSTERS, SHELLS OF THEIR PREVIOUS GLORY?_

"What the hell are you-Look, I'm sure we can work something out, right?!"

_YOUR GREED FALLS UPON DEAF EARS, MONSTER._

Suddenly, amongst the darkness came several different pairs of eyes, some different colors and some colors Fourteen didn't even think he could count as colors appeared. In total, from what he could make out, he saw twenty pairs in total.

_YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW MORTAL. NOW SUFFER._

Fourteen didn't see what happened to Sowrex, for one second, he was there, but the next he was gone. There wasn't any fanfare for it either. One moment the Porcurian was hanging up in mid air, the next he just disappeared in a blink, his screams still echoing out in the now eerily quiet room.

Fourteen, pulling his hands from his ears, gulped. "…Hello?" He asked out into the darkness, rising to his feet and looking around in confusion. "Mysterious voice?"

_THE REASON YOU DO NOT SUFFER MY WRATH IS YOU HAD A HAND IN MY CHILDREN'S FREEDOM. YOU HAVE, FOR THE MOMENT, MY THANKS._

"…I suppose it's better than whatever happened to Sowrex…" Fourteen groaned, rubbing his side. "Can I ask who-"

_NO. MY TIME HERE IS AT AN END. BUT WATCH YOURSELF SHADOWCHASER. YOU AND I MAY VERY WELL MEET AGAIN SOON._

With that, the voice ended, leaving Fourteen in complete and total silence. "Jalal's gonna have a field day with this one…" He chuckled, and walked to the door…when he heard a voice…

"…_.15…..14…..13…"_

He frowned and looked over at the cracked desk he slammed Sowrex on. Walking up to it, he looked through the busted wood and saw a small red button amongst the files and papers in the drawer.

"Self destruct." He sighed. "That's…bloody typical."

"…_9…8…7…6…"_

Realizing he had no time in the world to go through the long way, he looked out to the broken windows and gulped. It was either die in a fireball, or fall and pray the fall didn't kill him.

Guess which one he picked?

He rushed to the window and flung himself out, making a mental note of how far the ground one. At least four stories down.

_This is gonna hurt._ He thought and winced, as he closed his eyes and prepared to meet the ground.

"…_3…2…1…"_

An explosion was the last thing Fourteen heard before everything went black.

…

"Monsieur? Monsieur, if you're alive, then answer m, s'il vous plait.

Fourteen groaned, feeling his everything ache, opened his eyes to the dirt and the fact it was now night out. "Oh…god…what hit me?"

"The ground, monsieur, or rather, you hit the ground, not the other way around."

Fourteen rolled himself on his back, looking up at the sky and the stars above. Greiger sat beside his laying form, his hat in his lap and the crackling fire of the building that still burned bright in the night, the fourth floor all but blown out.

"Well…" He groaned. "That's…my job done here…" He chuckled. His eyes snapped open and he looked to Greiger. "You…didn't run?"

"I am an ogre of my word, mousier. You defeated me in a duel, fair and square, and for my association with a monster like Sowrex, I await my punishment." He nodded his head. "Aves-vous besoin d'aide?"

"If you'd be so kind; I think I broke a few ribs in that fall." He groaned, grabbing the ogres outstretched hand and picking himself up. Hunched over, Greiger was swiftly there to be a support for him. "Stupid pig…overly cliché bastard. Who honestly has a self destruct button in his desk?"

"A self destruct button?" Greiger asked in confusion, as he began to walk down the path to the entrance. "Strange…I did not hear of his plans to add such a feature to his desk…especially since the last one was destroyed by Toguro, from what he told me." Greiger chuckled softly. "Toguro told me he had a room full of desks because he kept breaking them."

"He didn't plant a self destruct button?" Fourteen questioned. "Guess someone must have planted it on him. Expected someone to trip it pretty soon in the new desk."

A short pause, as they limped to the entrance.

"Hey, where is Toguro?"

…

Sometimes getting your hands dirty was necessary in his business. Sometimes big name people needed to die. Sometimes your own clients or your own partners.

Sowrex was just a…causality in a larger string of events.

Toguro watched as the building burned from the distance, reflecting in his sunglasses. In his right hand a disk, full of data of the counterfeit cards. Perfectly capable of replicating the little act. A little disk small enough to fit in his duel disk.

He'd face justice…when they caught him.

A small smirk crossed his face as he walked over away from the facility, his plans just getting started…

…

**Terrafirmaformer  
Type:** Rock/Earth/Effect**  
Attack/Defense: **1500/1000**  
Level: **4**  
Effect:** When this face up attack position monster is destroyed as a result of battle and sent to the graveyard, add one Field Spell from your deck to your hand.

**Sin's Might  
Type**: Spell/Continuous  
**Image**: SIN Rainbow Dragon and SIN Blue Eyes White Dragon emerging from a portal to attack a Dark Magician and Elemental Hero Neos  
**Effect**: While this card is face up on the field, negate the effects of "SIN' monsters that say you may only control one face up "SIN" monster on the field at once and you cannot attack with other monsters. If you summon more than one "SIN" monster during this turn, add counters to monsters summoned after the first equal to its level. During each of your Standby Phases, remove one counter from those monsters. When those monsters have no Counters left, destroy them.

**SIN Red Archfiend Dragon  
Type**: Dragon/Dark/Effect  
**Attack/Defense**: 3000/2000  
**LV**: 8  
**Effect**: This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card can only be Special Summoned by removing from play 1 "Red Dragon Archfiend" from your Extra Deck. There can only be one face up "SIN" monster on the field. Other monsters you control cannot declare an attack. If there is no face up "SIN World" on the field, destroy this card. When this card declares an attack, destroy all face up monsters on the field that do not have "SIN" in their name.

**SIN Harpies' Pet Dragon  
Type**: Dragon/Dark/Effect  
**Attack/Defense**: 2000/2500  
**LV**: 7  
**Effect**: This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card can only be Special Summoned by removing from play 1 "Harpies Pet Dragon" from your Deck. There can only be one face up "SIN" monster on the field. Other monsters you control cannot declare an attack. If there is no face up "SIN World" on the field, destroy this card. This card gains 300 ATK for each face up "SIN" card on the field.

**Bomb Swarm  
Type**: Spell/Quick-Play  
**Image**: Four bombs with cartoonish smiley faces jumping out of a Volcanic Slicer  
**Type**: Discard one PYRO-Type monster from your hand. Special Summon "Bomb Tokens" (0 ATK/0 DEF/PYRO/Fire/LV 1) equal to the discarded monsters LV. These monsters cannot be used in a Synchro Summon. When these tokens are destroyed, inflict 300 points of damage to your opponent.

**Demolition Soldier  
Type**: Warrior/Fire/Effect  
**Attack/Defense**: 2600/2100  
**LV**: 8  
**Effect**: You can Special Summon this card from your hand by banishing one MACHINE-Type and one PYRO-Type monster from your graveyard. If summoned this way, this card is destroyed during your next Standby phase. When this card is destroyed as a result of this effect, you lose half this cards ATK in damage. Once per turn, destroy one monster your opponent controls.

**Dimensional Rescue  
Type**: Spell  
**Image**: D.D Warrior Lady reaching out to Warrior Dai Grepher, who's falling into a multicolored portal.  
**Effect**: Pay 1500 Life Points. Return all monsters in your Banished Zone to your Graveyard.

**Tollhouse  
Type**: Trap  
**Image**: The Guard from toll now standing in a booth in front of bridge.  
**Effect**: Activate only when an opponent's monster destroys your monster as a result of battle. Take the attack of the attacking monster and the attack of the monster that was destroyed and subtract them. Monsters with less attack than the end result cannot declare an attack.

**Vulcan Spider  
Type**: Machine/Fire/Fusion  
**Attack/Defense**: 3300/3500  
**LV**: 10  
**Effect**: Launcher Spider + 1 PYRO-Monster  
Once per turn, roll one Six-Sided die and label your opponents monster zones 1-5, from your left to right. Depending on the number rolled, destroy the monster that currently occupies that space and deal damage equal to its ATK. You cannot destroy a monster that has more ATK than this card. If a 6 is rolled, destroy this card and deal damage to your life points equal to this cards current ATK.

**Pump Action Commando  
Type**: Warrior/Earth/Effect  
**Attack/Defense**: 1600/1000  
**LV**: 4  
**Effect**: When this card attacks a monster, increase this cards ATK by 400.

_Note: Pump Action Commando was used by Greiger in the 5D'S Manga._

…

**Damian: **So how long do you expect this whole thing to go on?

**Jess: **I don't know but you have to keep him here! He knows magic, and he knows what's special about my Metalmorph card!

**Jerian:** He's eating us out of house and home! He better pick up on something soon!

**Humphrey: **My god…I may have stumbled upon something amazing!

**Next time on Shadowchasers, City of Angels: **

"**Spellbook of Wisdom"**

**Damian: **What the…oh come on, who is THIS guy?


End file.
